Thorns
by RenkonNairu
Summary: Future-AU. Devlin hates his father. Gwen is trying to move on but is still in love with Kevin. Cooper thinks Kevin is everything that's wrong in his life. And Ben's just sitting there eating a sandwich. But no mater what, it seems like everyone has some thorns in their relationship.
1. Prologue: Kevin

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Prologue: Kevin

It was hard to tell time.

Solitary confinement cells in Null Void Incarceration were devoid of windows, so one could not see the light change. The cells artificial lighting was kept at a consistent dim, neither bright enough to illuminate the whole room, nor dark enough to plunge him into total darkness. The only indication that time past was that meals were delivered through a slot in the door. A small bar of nutrients at regular intervals.

There wasn't really much to do in solitary either.

Nothing except sit alone with your thoughts.

Damn thoughts.

For his first couple of year -at least, he assumed it had been years- he thought about what landed him in this cell. About his pathetic and failed attempt to absorb an infant Celestialsapien and gain its omnipotent power. About how he'd been stopped by one he considered to be a friend. About how, instead of sending him home to be with his wife and mutated son -people who needed him- he was sent back to the Null Void and locked away in a cell with no high-powered energy to tap into, walls, floor, and ceiling coated with a sealant to prevent him from absorbing them, and no contact with any other living thing. He didn't even know who delivered his meals.

He flip-flopped back and forth from hating his treacherous friend and planning his revenge, and dwelling on his wife and infant son and wondered how they were getting along without him. How was she handling the boy's Osmosian abilities without him? How old would the boy be by now? How was he getting on trapped in that hideous form? Was he being ostracized by his peers? Probably.

That was why he wanted the Celestialsapien's power. With that kind of omnipotence he could have cured his son of the mutation the boy inherited from him in the first place.

He blamed his failure on his friend's betrayal.

And he blamed the whole situation on himself.

And -every now and again- he blamed his wife. For being so freaking wonderful that he had to fall in love with her. That he couldn't live without her and simply had to marry her. That she had to get pregnant. That their son had to be like him.

It was all her fault.

It was all his fault.

It was all the friend's fault.

Then, after a while, that got boring. One could only dwell on the same things so long. His mind wandered to other things.

He thought about his troubled childhood. About his time spent on the streets. Stealing and fighting. How he ran away from a comparatively comfortable and safe home because he felt rejected do to his abilities. He had never been a normal child. Things were never easy for him for that reason.

But thinking of that brought him back to thoughts of his own son. The boy would also never be a normal child. Would he run away same as he had? He imagined the boy growing up resentful and surly, angry at the world, skeptical of everything and distrusting of others. Just like he was before he came to love the boy's mother. He saw the boy growing up the same as him which was something he did not want for his son. Again, the reason for his failed attempt to absorb the Celestialsapien's power.

He worried.

He dwelled.

He blamed.

He planned revenge.

And he got bored.

Then he expanded his musings into the uncharted territories of wider and more general meditation. He remembered his wife telling him about old men sitting on mountains with beards, meditating under trees or in waterfalls and gaining enlightenment. Gurus and sages. He didn't want 'enlightenment', it wasn't exactly his style. He was a subscriber to the 'pound the crap out of stuff' school of philosophy. As a philosophy it worked for him. There just wasn't a lot to pound on in his small, solitary, confining cell.

He had never been a particularly 'deep' person and so trying to find meaning in something outside himself was rather difficult. He thought he had found meaning in his family. But that was taken from him when he was thrown in this oubliette. He didn't know where they were. What had happened to them without him. Gone from his sight in the blink of an eye.

But then, that could really be said of everything in his life.

His early life with his mother crumbled like the rubble of their house around them as he brought it down with his power. His time on the streets, living by his own rules, not answering to anyone. No one being able to make him answer. Not until he met Ben. Not until he absorbed the power of the Omnitrix the first time. Not until he suffered his first horrifying mutation. That had earned him his first stay in a Null Void prison as well. But, like a drop of water in the ocean, that to had ended and was put behind him. Once again, he was out on his own, responsible for no one but himself. Answering to no one to himself.

His career as an alien-tech dealer was a sweet gig. The work wasn't exactly easy, but it was exciting -fun!- and lucrative. He would never be rich, but he had earned enough money to live what he considered to be a comfortable life. Then one of his deals was crashed and people he thought he'd never see again were thrown abruptly back into his life -this time to stay. His enemy became an ally of convince, then a proper ally, then a begrudging friend, a true friend, and finally a best friend. (Perhaps that was why the betrayal stung so much. It wasn't like he was a stranger to being stabbed in the back.)

That was also what threw _her_ back into his life. He would follow her anywhere. Across every planet and every star.

They were together through the Highbreed Invasion. She stuck with him all the way through his second terrible mutation that left him trapped in a cold, unfeeling, body of stone and steel. They watched each other's backs during the Map of Infinity crisis. She didn't lose faith in him during his third mutation -the worst of them all- not even after he tried to absorb her. He shielded her during the Flamekeeper's Circle, protecting her from Dagon's control. They were there for each other for everything in between and after.

It only made sense to get married. He just couldn't understand why it took him so long to figure it out.

But then, it was a busy time.

The world was changing. Earth's technology was advancing, climbing ever closer to a level where they could finally join the rest of the universe. More and more aliens were coming to Earth. For help from the wielder of the Ultimatrix, to _challenge_ the wielder of the Ultimatrix, simple and innocent exploration, and everything in between. The status of his love-life wasn't exactly a daily concern -for either of them, really.

Yet, when the engagement was announced, everyone was surprised that they weren't _already_ married. Apparently, in everyone else's minds, they had been married for years.

Maybe that was one reason why there was no judgment when she got pregnant before the paperwork could actually be signed. The ceremony was pushed back -because _apparently_, she didn't want to look pregnant in her dress and that was a big deal. A little over six years together and he still never really understood why the most random things were important to her while other things she was ambivalent to. So they agreed to wait until alter the baby was born.

Those were the most terrifying nine months of his life. Just the normal new father jitters weren't enough. Oh no. Not for an alien pregnancy where both parents are two opposing species. It didn't get really bad until she was into her second trimester. It started off as just feeling uncommonly tired. Everyone thought it was just a semi-normal symptom of the pregnancy. It wasn't like any of their friends had ever had kids before. They were the first in their group.

It wasn't until she started fainting, her manna dangerously low almost all the time that they realized the fetus developing inside her was absorbing her energy. Eating its own mother from the inside out. He suggested terminating the pregnancy -forcing a miscarriage. If it meant keeping her safe. He could live a childless life. Might even be safer too. They didn't exactly live a conventional life and throwing a small child into the mix would just add unnecessary liabilities and dangers. But she would hear none of it and was determined to carry their child to term. There had to be a way they could make it work.

In the end, they decided on something that he (personally) considered to be a bit risky. As the child absorbed her manna from her, he would absorb it from the child and cycle it back into her at the same rate so that everything would stay balanced. It wasn't easy and every moment of it was a constant battle with himself to give back what he was taking and not keep it for himself. His Osmosian instincts screaming for him to gorge himself on the energy pulsing just under his palms, coursing though the fingers of one hand and back out again through the other.

Words could not express just how relieved he was when she finally went into labor. Oh, he was panicked and a little sick, sure. But also relived. Very, very relived. Their problems were over.

Or so they thought.

The baby tumbled out of her womb not just malformed but completely misshapen. Not even recognizable as human. Four arms, all mismatched. flimsy jagged wings, asymmetrical eyes -one large and round, taking up almost the whole upper part of the face and pushing the other to the side-, hands and feet ending in claws or talons rather than proper fingers, and a tail. It took him only the first look at his newborn son to realize that his form was that of his first horrid mutation. Apparently, even though he was back to normal -and had been normal for many years now- his blood still carried the mutation (possibly all of his mutations) and it was passed to his child.

It only seemed right that if he was the cause of this, then he should be the one to fix it.

That was where the plan to absorb the Celestialsapien came into play.

It was an old endgame by one of their enemies from way, way back. At the time, he and all of them thought it was crazy. Who wanted the power of a god anyway? But now he had a reason to need that power and the plan didn't sound so crazy anymore. Funny how none of them ever bothered to ask Aggregor _why_ he wanted to become all powerful in the first place. Was he also trying to save a child?

It didn't matter. Aggregor didn't succeed and neither did he. They were both stopped and he was thrown in here.

Alone in the dark with his thoughts and regrets. Seemingly forgotten. His son doomed to live the life of a monster and a freak. And he and the mother never did get their chance to marry.

How old was the boy now…

He didn't even know his one son's age.

He didn't even know how long he'd been locked up.

So, it came as a shock when the monotony of his incarceration was interrupted one day by the door to his cell opening for the first time in he didn't know how long.

He was confused at first. His mind not really grasping what was going on. It had been so long since that door was opened that he was beginning to believe it just didn't do that anymore. He squinted at the open door for some time, the true, bright light of the corridor outside poring in and illuminating his form. He hadn't lost much muscle in his incarceration, there not being much to do in his cell except work out. But his hair had grown longer, falling down his back and over his shoulders in a wild main. Was he even recognizable anymore?

The man standing in the doorway sure as hack was easily recognized. The short auburn hair might be graying on the sides a bit, but other than that, he was almost exactly the same as the last time they saw each other. Even the Omnitrix was the same.

"Hello, Kevin. Long time." He crossed his arms over his chest in the door way. The shift allowing Kevin to see the young man dressed in a standard issue Plumber's uniform standing behind him.

"Has it been?" He growled. "I wouldn't know."

"I'm sorry about that." Ben assured him. (Kevin was not convinced.) "But it was really the only way to make sure you'd stay where we put you."

Yeah. If Ben had learned anything over their torrid friendship, it was that Kevin Ethan Levin and prisons were like oil and water -no matter what you did, eventually, they would each got their separate ways.

"So what brings you here now?" After an indeterminate number of years, Kevin found that he had no patience (not that he possessed very great patience to begin with).

"I need your help." Be said flatly.

There was a beat of silence.

Then, "No."

And Kevin turned around. Laid down on his uncomfortable bunk. Pulled the single blanket over his head. Where was Ben when his child was suffering, malformed and misshapen, and needed help? If the Omnitrix could heal other beings, why couldn't it heal his son? Kevin wasn't for a second willing to believe that that mutated monstrous body was his baby's 'natural' form and therefore incapable of being 'healed' by the Omnitrix. There was no accounting for himself, but Gwen's child should have been beautiful. There was no way in heck a baby with Gwen as a mother could be anything besides spectacular.

"You haven't even heard my deal!" Ben argued, sounding as indignant as Kevin remembered.

"Tennyson, you've taken away every reason I have to live for. What possible incentive could I have for wanting to help you?"

And surprisingly, it was not Ben who answered this question, but the young Plumber officer whom lurked behind him. Nearly shoving the older man to the side as he barged partway into the cell (but never far enough in to be within Kevin's reach), and snarled, "Because its the right thing to do!" Like any naive and idealistic fool that idolized Ben Tennyson would do. "Because its a chance to make up for the bad things that you've done!"

Kevin rolled back over to glare at the boy.

Little more than a teenager, really. Fifteen, maybe sixteen. No older than Kevin himself had been when he got his Plumbers badge. Long dark hair pulled up into a ponytail, a few sharp bangs falling down into his face, the sides of his head shaved, giving him a vintage cyber-punk look that Kevin was sure the kid probably thought made him look cool. But his eyes were a brilliant, bright, almost luminescent green. The same shade Gwen's had been. The same shade Ben's were. Was this brat Ben's kid? So, Ben and Julie had had a kid of their own. And theirs was whole, properly formed, and perfect. Well, fan-freaking-tastic for them! Kevin felt his anger begin to boil.

"The bad things I've done, huh." He snarled, low and threatening at the boy. "Do you even know what it was I did to land myself in here, kid? Of course not. How could you? You probably weren't even an ache in your mommy's belly when I was thrown in here!"

"I've read-"

"You've read the reports. Sure." Kevin scoffed. "I'm sure by now they must devote an entire class at the Academy to me. You don't know jack or squat!"

The kid looked like he was about to say more, but Ben placed a restraining hand on the kid's shoulder and pulled him back out of the cell. Probably for the best. The kid bothered Kevin and he wasn't above going after him to suck up a bit of energy before making a break for it. If he could get out, how far would he get before Ben recaptured him? Would he get far enough to see Gwen again? Would he be able to find his son? Was his son even still alive, or would someone have administered a mercy killing? If that was the case, Kevin vowed that not a single creature in the universe would be left alive once he was done.

"Why don't you go wait in the ship." Ben was saying to the kid. "It was a bad move on my part to bring you with me."

When the brat was gone, Ben returned his attention to his old friend. Former friend.

"I still haven't heard a compelling reason I should help you."

"How about to save Gwen." Ben deadpanned. "I can't do it alone and while I'm not exactly without back-up, why settle for the apprentices when I can get a master?" Then, as an afterthought, just to sweeten the deal, "Devlin is anxious to rescue his mom and I'm not sure how much longer I can convince him to be patient."

Devlin. At the mention of his son's name, Ben suddenly had Kevin's full, complete, and unwavering attention. "How- how is he?"

"Broody. Impatient. Stubborn. He's basically you. If you had Gwen's book-smarts. He's got Gwen's book-smarts." Ben laughed. A true and proper laugh of affection. So, to spite his hideous form, Devlin was still loved. By the whole family, not just Gwen. Good. That was good. That was more than Kevin had ever hoped for. "And he's scared and anxious right now. Gwen's always seemed kinda invincible to him and the fact that she's-"

"I'm in." Kevin was on his feet and halfway to the door before Ben ever realized he'd agreed.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm helping. Come on, Tennyson. Move your feet!" And without fan fair or incident, Kevin walked out of his cell.

It had been sixteen years.

...


	2. Life Went On

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Chapter One: Life Went On

_Several days earlier..._

A loud _THUMP_ resounded off the dojo walls as Gwen threw her opponent. A nice, clean, strait line judo toss.

Devlin grunted as his back impacted the (completely ineffective!) training mats and he dragged himself back to his feet groaning. "I swear, Mom, one day I'm gonna beat you at this."

Gwen smiled, a smile of true pleasure. Five years ago she never would have even considered training her son in martial arts. As bulky and uncoordinated as he was, she feared he would hurt himself more than his opponent. His mismatched and unnbalaced body would have made anything besides boxing to difficult for him. But luckily, that misshapen form he was born with wasn't a static form.

As Kevin had learned to manipulate the shape and form of his own body, so too had Devlin. At the age of eleven he got fed up with being home schooled, his mother fearing that normal school children would ridicule and ostracize him. He got fed up with his only friend being his cousin Kenny. He got fed up with his whole social life consisting of no one but family.

On the morning of his eleventh birthday, he locked himself in the bathroom and refused to come out. Staring at his own hideous reflection in the mirror, he willed himself to change. Using some of the breathing and meditation techniques his mother had been trying to teach him for as long as he could remember. Devlin delved deep within himself. He inherited this form from his father. It was a form he had mutated into after absorbing to much power, it was not his natural form and it shouldn't be Devlin's either.

And upon finally reaching some version of _Sasmita_ meditation (the first time he'd ever achieved that level) he discovered that it wasn't his natural form either. He also had an over abundance of energy coursing through his body. Anodite energy. His mother's energy. Energy he must have absorbed before he was even born. When he was still inside his mom's belly. He would have to expel that energy if he ever wanted to live a normal life. To go to public school with Kenny, or have friends that he didn't share genes with.

Still being only eleven, a child, and by no means an expert at energy manipulation, his expulsion of the excess energy wasn't particularly graceful. Or clean. Or neat. In fact, it was rather violent. The explosion rocked the whole Plumbers Headquarters. So much so that even passers on the street noticed. Bellwood had always payed close attention to Ben 10, even ore so now that he was Ben 10,000. Back up on the residential levels of the building, every member of the family rushed to the source of the explosion. Where at first Gwen had been the only one standing outside the bathroom, trying to coax her son to come out, soon everyone was there in a mild panic demanding to know what happened.

Everyone was struck silent when Devlin did come out, however.

Coughing profusely and staggering slightly on unfamiliar legs was not a six limbed, winged, and tailed little monster, but instead a naked and skinny human child. It was the best birthday present he could have given himself.

That was five years ago by now, and Devlin was now sixteen and had more or less gotten the hang of a normal human body, and could change back and forth between his monstrous form and human form at will (not that he willed to very often -or at all- but the option was there).

Gwen taught him martial arts for self defense, so that he wouldn't have to change into his other form if attacked. Ben enrolled him in the same school Kenny attended so the two boys could look after each other. And just recently, Devlin had enrolled himself in the weekend training program offered at the Plumbers Academy so that he could begin Plumbers training and still finish high school. (Admittedly, that last part was more Gwens decision than his. Devlin wanted to drop out of school and devote his time completely to the Plumbers, but she wanted her son to finish school -unlike his father.)

"That'll be the day." Gwen bent down to offer him a hand up. "Go wash up and get ready for school."

And by 'wash up for school' Gwen meant, 'dab yourself down with a towel, put on some deodorant, and go finish the homework I know you didn't actually finish last night'. Because as much as he was her son, intelligent and clever enough to solve complexed problems (as shown by finding a way to turn himself human), temperate and disciplined enough to master martial arts and meditation, he was also Kevin's son. That made him disorganized, occasionally thoughtless, and a procrastinator when it came to things he didn't really care much for -like public school.

But that was okay. He was really just waiting it out until he graduated and could devote his full time to the Plumbers Academy.

He made his way back to his bedroom. Stripped out of his sweaty _dogi_, and changed into more conventional street cloths. Black denim jeans, a gray on gray stripped shirt, and leather vest with mismatched studs (he's glued the studs on himself, some had already begun to fall off). Idly, Devlin thought about pulling a brush through his hair, but decided the exercise would be pointless as it would just be messy again by the time he got to school anyway. So, he left it up in the ponytail, exposing the shaved sides.

That taken care of, he threw what was left of his school work back in his backpack and set it by the door. Then he took much more care in packing his overnight bag for the weekend Academy. It was friday, that meant that he and Kenny were going strait from school to training.

Speaking of Kenny, wasn't it about time Devlin went to wake his obnoxiously carefree cousin up?

Kenny enjoyed sleeping in.

He enjoyed sleeping in a lot.

The softness of the plush comforter over him. The smooth firmness of the mattress beneath him. The pillows cushioning and cacooning him in warmth and comfort. The bliss of drafting hallway between sleep and waking. Existing in both, yet a part of neither. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Even better than girls! (Not that he had much experience with girls, but from what he'd seen so far, sleeping in in the mornings was probably better than them.)

So it was a crime, nay, an atrocity when Devlin poked his stupid face around the door and let off an air-horn.

The very air spasmed.

And Kenny catapulted out of bed.

He glared at Devlin from a heap on the floor. Eyes overflowing with murderous intent at his cousin, already dressed and ready as if he'd been up for hours. "You are going to the special level of Hell, Dev. The one reserved for the vicious scumbags who cancel Firefly."

Devlin only shrugged. "Breakfast is ready. Ride leaves in thirty minutes. Weekend academy tonight, don't forget your stuff. I'm not gonna swing back home after school like last time."

And he walked out of the doorway.

Kenny humphed and tried to disentangle himself from the blankets wrapped around his legs. He liked Devlin a lot better when he was a mutant. In addition to looking way cooler than he does now, he was also much, much less bossy, and domineering, with that high and mighty attitude. '_Ooh, look at me, look at me. I'm soooo pretty now that I'm human. I'm way super smart, I'm in all the AP classes. I'm getting a headstart on being a Plumber because I'm so responsible. I don't need an Omnimatrix or my powers to be a badass, I know karate. Ooh.'_

Bleh.

When they were younger and Devlin looked like he'd been pieced together by the various left-overs of monster movie props, he was quiet, shy, sensitive, and so, so much easier to get along with. To spite the fact that Devlin was older (only by thirteen months), Kenny had felt like the older brother back then because he was the one always looking out for his much more introverted cousin.

Then he had to go and blow up the bathroom and somehow change into a real boy. Suddenly, his favorite introverted cousin was gone and had been replaced with a smart-mouthed, back-talking, and aggressive hyper-extrovert. It really was amazing the things a change of the face could achieve.

Yawning, Kenny started picking up the jeans and t-shirts from his floor, searching for one of each that didn't smell. They didn't have to match, they just had to be suitable for school. That done, he emerged from his room, t-shirt inside out, and joined the rest of the family for breakfast.

As per-usual, Devlin was reading a book over his cereal. A real book. The kind made of paper, not an e-reader. It was a preference that came from back when he still didn't have human hands. The touch screens on most e-readers or tablets wouldn't register his claws, talons, and variations there off, and so he could never turn a page or select a different document. So, he learned to read on real books and continued to prefer to read real books.

Great-Grandpa stood in front of the stove, frying… something. Something no one in the room had the slightest intention of actually eating. Dad was yawning in his seat, his own food seemingly forgotten. He might have been fully clothed and sitting upright, but by all outward appliances Ben Tennyson appeared to still be asleep.

Aunt Gwendolyn (technically second cousin Gwendolyn) flitted in and out of the kitchen, disappearing and reappearing in varying stages of readiness. That was unusual, because out of the whole family, Aunt Gwendolyn was the most 'together' of them. She was rarely an anxious or scattered mess.

"Has anyone seen my earrings?" She would ask before dashing out of the kitchen without receiving an answer. Then she would reappear. "Should I wear my hair up or down?" Take a bite of toast. "I should change. This top sends the wrong message."

And she was out the kitchen again.

"What's up with Aunt Gwendolyn?" Kenny asked as he sat next to Devlin who seemed oblivious to his mother's flurry of movement.

At this, Ben seemed to climb out of his morning daze and draw himself to full waking with a short snort of amusement. "Cooper asked her to clear her schedule for the day."

"The whole day? Why?"

Ben flashed his son a knowing smile and reminded him. "They _have_ been dating for a year now."

"Three hundred sixty-one days." Devlin corrected without even looking up from his book. He turned the page without missing a beat as if he hadn't just spoken and wasn't interested in their conversation in the slightest.

"Thank you, Dev." Ben said with mock sweetness. "My point is, Cooper's been in love with Gwen since forever and they've managed to go steady for a while now. My theory: he's ready to take their relationship to the next level." Then, speaking to Devlin, specifically. "Cooper just might end up being your new dad, Dev."

"Can't have a 'new' dad if you never _had_ a dad to begin with." Devlin shot back -_almost_ casually. He marked the page in his book and tossed it back in his school bag. Standing, he hoisted both backpack and Academy sack over his shoulder. "Ride's leaving, Kenny."

Kenny quickly downed his breakfast and sprinted after Devlin to the hangar.

Devlin's car was ancient. A relic from the early turn of the millennium that had been sitting in the back of the garage collecting dust for nearly twenty years before he dragged it out and fixed it up. Originally it must have been a very attractive muscle car. All green with black racing stripes. Whoever had owned it previously must have been a mechanic to rival Devlin's own skills, because to spite its simple and unassuming exterior, the thing had more modifications, retrofits, and customizations than most professional smuggling freighters. Jets, retractable wings, artillery… heck! the thing was even submersible! But the poor thing had been so neglected almost none of those features even worked anymore. It was like the car had been abandoned by its previous owner.

So, Devlin made it his personal project.

He dragged it out, propped it up and spent almost a year underneath it. Replacing, refurbishing, cleaning, unclogging, refilling, rotating, and testing. He even reupholstered the back seat. Until finally, not only would it function as a car again, but all its other features were restored as well. The only thing the car couldn't do now was travel through space, and then only because it couldn't achieve Escape Velocity. But Devlin was confident that with a little more time, some new parts, and a change in fuel and he could get his baby into outer space.

Kenny managed to throw his own bags in the back seat and hop in the passenger side before Devlin shot out of the hanger and merged -very ungracefully- into the city's hover-lanes.

"Whoa! Okay, no need to drive like a maniac." Kenny fastened his seat belt. Devlin was usually a very safe and conscientious driver. "You mad or something?"

"Of course not." Devlin replied all to quickly, flipping on his turn signal only moments before making an abrupt lane change and cutting of the car behind them. "I just wanna get to school. The sooner that's over, the sooner we can get over to the weekend Academy."

"You do know school doesn't work that way, right?" Kenny reminded him. "You can't leave early if you show up early. It gets out at the same time every day." Then, after a pause. "Why are you always so anxious to get to Plumber training anyway. Are you afraid you're gonna turn eighteen and they won't be hiring anymore?"

Devlin remained stoically silent, using making a left-hand turn as a pretext to ignore his younger cousin.

"Or, are you worried that its just _you_ they won't want to hire?" Still no response from his impassive cousin, save for a tightening of his hands on the steering wheel. "Oh my gosh! That's it, isn't it! You think that they're not gonna want you as a Plumber! Why? Because of what happened with your dad? That's why you enrolled in the weekend Academy as 'Tennyson' instead of 'Levin'! You know my dad is the Magister of the Sol sector, right? Its not like he's gonna deny his own family the chance to be a Plumber. I don't see what you're so worried about."

There was a beat of silence.

Then, "I enrolled as 'Devlin Tennyson' because my mom and Kevin Levin were never married. It doesn't make any sense for me to be a Levin when that man never made any claim to me before he went off the deep end and became a Saturday morning super-villain."

Kenny scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in the seat. "I'd say trying to absorb the power of a god so that he could restore your human form was a fairly clear claim to the fatherhood mantel."

Devlin returned to his stoic silence.

"I'm just saying. It doesn't sound very evil to me."

In an effort to drown out the younger boy, Devlin turned on the radio and cranked the volume up.

…

It took Gwen a long time to consider dating again after Kevin.

It took her even longer after she started considering it to actually _start_ dating again.

Her first few tries were disasters and never went past the first outing. All either blind dates set up by friends of friends or men she met on various dating sites. She never called any of them back and they never messaged her again. She had a feeling she lost them somewhere around the point of, '_Oh, I have an eleven-year-old (… thirteen-year-old… fifteen-year-old) son at home. His real father is locked up in Incarceration in the Null Void._' For some reason, that seemed to scare men off.

Maybe that was why her relationship with Cooper had lasted so long. Almost a year now.

Cooper knew Kevin just as long as Gwen knew Cooper. He helped them save the world multiple times. He helped her save _Kevin_. That was a real show of his character right there. Because as long as Gwen had known Cooper, he'd been madly in love with her but was to much of a gentleman to act on his feelings. Not even when Kevin was driven mad, having gorged himself on to much energy and trying to suck Gwen dry. Instead of stepping in and helping Ben _kill_ Kevin -there by removing the competition-, he took the higher road. Teamed up with Gwen (and Darkstar of all people) to help _save_ Kevin -even though he knew it meant he would never have a chance with Gwen because of it.

But then again, maybe it was that very act all those years ago that made Gwen give him a chance in the first place. His selflessness, his kindness, his intelligence… That, and he was probably the only man on Earth who wasn't afraid of her Null Void baby-daddy. That sort of made him the perfect man.

There was just one problem.

Gwen didn't love him.

Oh, she liked Cooper. Was very fond of him. Respected him. Cared about him. But 'love' was just to strong a word for her to apply. If she tried, it felt like a lie.

Which is why Gwen was completely knocked off her feet at lunch when Cooper got down on one knee, pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket, presented her with a conservative diamond ring, and asked her to marry him. It was an earnest and heartfelt proposal. She didn't have even the slightest shadow of a doubt in his feelings for her. It was just Gwen's own feelings that were in doubt.

She stared at the ring, her mouth slightly open.

At the ring. Not him.

"Gwen…?" Cooper ventured after a prolonged silence.

Her mind flashed back to the night she and Kevin decided to get married. There was never any real formal proposal. They were just laying together in the backseat of his car in the post-euphoric haze of lovemaking. She made a comment along the lines of wishing they could lay like that forever. He shrugged and said why don't they. She laughed and reminded him that they had to much to do. The new Plumber's base was still under construction, Ben was being reviewed for the Magister position of the Sol System, and there was still that hate group running around making things difficult for extraterrestrial immigration. There was simply just to much to do for them to lay naked and sticky in the backseat forever.

He had laughed, a soft, low, bedroom laugh. Kevin opened the car door and ungracefully maneuvered his way out of the car, crossing the garage naked to his toolbox. He came back to the backseat holding, not a ring, but a nut. One with the inner threading stripped, making it useless as hardware, no bolt would ever go through it. He slipped it on her finger and gazing at her with eyes full of feelings she knew he could never put into words said, _'Lets stay like this forever.'_

The sound of Cooper snapping the ring box shut again snapped her out of her flashback. "Maybe I should give you some time to think it over." He said. "I see you clearly weren't expecting this."

He sat back in his seat and slid the ring across the table to her. Almost robotically, Gwen picked it up. Lifting the lid again, she gave it a more thorough examination. Not absurdly huge or showy, Cooper knew her well enough to understand that she wouldn't appreciate something so impractical as having a chandelier on her finger. It was a white-gold band with a large princess-cut diamond flanked by two green emeralds on either side. It was a very elegant ring. From all outward appearances, it seemed the perfect ring for her, except… except, she'd rather have a dirty old stripped nut randomly selected from an old, beat-up, red toolbox.

Gwen suddenly became aware that she hadn't said anything yet -at all. "Uh. Yes. This is very sudden." Her voice was dry. Mechanic, almost. "I, uh, I need some time to think and… and to ask Devlin. Getting married… Its a big deal and it'll change his life too. He should have a say in this."

She felt a pang of guilt using her son as an excuse. It wasn't exactly untrue, if she married, Devlin would have to get used to Cooper living with them -at least until he left to attend the Plumbers Academy full-time. This being said, it was still underhanded and ethically uncouth to use her child as an excuse.

Cooper looked disappointed. Clearly disappointed. But he nodded to spite it. "Of course. I get it. When you marry a single mother, you're also marrying her kids. I can wait for you to talk to your son, but… I'd just like to say that, Devlin is almost a grown man and is already planning to move out the first chance he gets. You shouldn't let him get in the way of your own personal happiness. He's you're son and I believe he wants you to be happy, so he should be fine with this if its what you want."

The thing was, Gwen wasn't sure if it was what she wanted. She liked Cooper and he was a good man and had tried to be a good figure for Devlin -not exactly a father figure, but a positive adult male figure. The thing was… what Gwen really wanted was an old and slightly rusty nut and the man that had slid it onto her finger. Forever…

…

"Tennyson! Fake-Tennyson!" Magister Wheels shouted to be heard over the mess hall. "You two are Team Captains for tomorrow's combat exercise."

Pierce Wheels was the local Magister in charge of the Plumber's weekend Academy on Earth. It was a small off-shoot of the main academy meant for cadets that wanted to become Plumbers but for one reason or another, didn't have the means, methods, or opportunities to travel to the space station orbiting the Galvan System which was the main campus. That made it ideal for Devlin and Kenny who wanted to follow the Tennyson family tradition, but who's parents wouldn't let them leave the planet. The Academy was mostly run by retired Plumbers or deputy-Plumbers who generally stayed out of the main fray on most missions.

Pierce Wheels' title of 'Magister' was purely honorary and ply ever used within the Academy. His official rank within the Plumbers organization was 'Officer'. But no simple Officer ever ran an Academy -even just a weekend one- so while on campus his title was 'Magister'.

"Sir! Yes, sir!" Both boys choired in unison before sitting back down to their dinner.

Kenny groaned. The only thing more unpleasant than being on the same team as Devlin, was being on the opposing team from Devlin. The last time they had a combat exercise, Kenny and Devlin were on the same team under the captainship of another cadet -an older cadet by the name of Billings- and to spite the fact that they weren't very experienced yet and didn't know how these things went, Devlin (somehow) managed to goad the rest of the team into following his lead -by sheer force of bossiness. Whether they won or lost that match is immaterial. But everyone walked out of that matched frustrated and angry and because Kenny was related to him, he received more than his fair share of flack for Devlin's coup.

"Please, please, please, don't be a dick this time." Kenny pleaded with his cousin.

"Don't worry." The older boy assured him. "Every other member in our units are useless, so this match will mostly be you versus me. And you can't use your Omni-knock-off-matrix, so, I've already won."

Kenny sorely wanted to shoot back with a reminded that Devlin couldn't use his ability either. Except that would have been pointless. In addition to the fact that combat exercises were usually staged in locations with little or no atmosphere and transforming into his other form would completely destroy Devlin's space-suit, he also just plain didn't like transforming and avoided doing it to great extent. That, and it usually took him a couple hours of meditation to change back into his human form. So, Kenny knew he wouldn't have to worry about going up against that. No, it would just be the martial arts he learned from Aunt Gwendolyn and the tactical skills he garnered from all those books like liked to read so much.

On the other hand, Kenny never really had the discipline to stick with the martial arts to spite the fact that Aunt Gwendolyn had tried to train him and did renew her offer to train him semi-regularly. But kicking boards with his bare feet just wasn't as fun as playing his MMOs or watching TV. The same went for the book thing, too. It didn't matter if it was a real book made of paper, or a document on an e-reader, if it had more words than pictures Kenny just could not hold his attention on it for longer than five minutes. He was very much like his father in that respect. Ben Tennyson had never been much for the reading either. It just wasn't in their side of the family.

Still, that didn't mean that Devlin had to be an jerk about it. "Oh, yeah? Well, don't count your chickens before they hatch, Dev. I might not be allowed to use my Omnimatrix, but I still know how to handle myself in a fight. I managed to keep the bullies off you well enough back in middle school."

Yeah. Remember that! Devlin wasn't always the confident and collected badass he tried to portray himself as. When they were younger and Devlin was still getting used to his new human form, he was gawky, awkward, and uncoordinated. This made him prime material to be made fun of back when they were twelve and thirteen. Add that to the fact that Devlin was still getting used to public school and wasn't used to being surrounded by so many people his own age all day it was a wonder Kenny wasn't defending him from more bullying and ridicule. Devlin wouldn't be nearly half the confident bastard he was if it wasn't for Kenny always having his back in those early years.

"And I appreciate that." Devlin nodded. "But I'm still gonna kick your butt."

…


	3. Wondering About Things

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Chapter Two: Wondering About Things

Gwen opened her jewelry box and withdrew a plain, unadorned, utilitarian chain. On the end of said chain dangled an old and slightly rusty nut. This she took off the chain and set it on her dresser next to the velvet ring box displaying Cooper's engagement ring. She sat on the foot of her bed and stared at them.

Coopers diamond and emerald ring.

Kevin's rusty thread-stripped nut.

To any third party there really shouldn't be a question. One was an actual, formal, proper engagement ring. The other was grease-monkey garbage. One was from a sweet, responsible, reputably employed man of exceptional moral fiber and steady in-come. The other was junk from an uneducated, marginally employed, auto-mechanic, who picked it out of a bin on a whim. Really, the choice should have been a simple one.

But for some reason Gwen couldn't make what should have been the obvious decision.

She felt like she was cheating.

It was stupid. She and Kevin were never even married. Not legally anyway. Oh, sure. They were going to. But then she got pregnant and they pushed the date back to give her enough time to have the baby and lose the weight. Because -at the time- looking good in her dress was important to her. Their wedding photos were going to last forever. She wanted them to be good ones. She didn't want her and Kevin to be in their eighties and looking through their family albums lamenting what would undoubtedly look like a shot-gun ceremony.

But then Devlin came out the way he did and a wedding was the farthest thing from their minds.

Then Kevin was arrested and thrown back in the Null Void and a wedding would never happen.

They were never married, so why did she feel like she was breaking a vow?

Because, in their hearts, they'd been life-mates for several years already. Kevin was already calling her his wife every day of their engagement and pregnancy. She called him her husband through out the whole ordeal and even the first two years following his incarceration. They may never have been legally married as far as the state was concerned. But in their own minds, and more importantly, in their own hearts, they were already married.

But, at the same time. It had been sixteen years and it wasn't like Kevin was about to be paroled any time soon. If he were to break out, Gwen couldn't allow herself to get back together with him either. In that scenario he'd be a fugitive and while she didn't have a problem with that, it wasn't a life she could condemn their son to. So, it was safe to say that her relationship with Kevin was over and had been over for many, many years now. There was absolutely no reason not to move on with another man. A better man. A man who was smart and intelligent like she was. A man who had never broken a single law in his life. A man who had the forethought to get her a proper engagement ring and propose to her formally, one knee and everything.

The choice should be obvious. But it was a choice Gwen just couldn't seem to make.

Well, she did say she would ask her son about it. So, she would ask her son about it. Gwendolyn Tennyson was already lined up to be a guest lecture at the weekend Academy. She'd get the chance to speak to Devlin then.

…

"We're pinned down here!"

The enemy fire caused the meager shelter to crumble just noticeably. The Moon's low gravity allowing the flack to canter and spin through the 'air' rather than spray briefly and fall as they would on a proper planet's surface.

"We'll never get to the enemy's flag like this!"

Kenny grit his teeth. Devlin was having his squad lay down cover fire -heavy cover fire- while he seemed to have vanished off the field. Kenny wasn't sure where his cousin was, but he was sure that he was slinking from crater to crater, creeping up on them to steal Kenny's team's flag. But then, the young Tennyson had a sudden epiphany. Devlin had left his team all in one place and while they were managing to keep his squad pretty well pinned down, they also weren't going anywhere. That made them fixed targets.

He nodded to his squad's flag. "Okay, you guys stay here and keep that safe. I'm gonna swing around and come at them from behind. Take out some of their guns and maybe, just maybe get their flag."

"And what are we supposed to do when your crazy kung-fu cousin comes and ambushes us?"

"Don't let him get the flag."

Kenny went belly to the ground, rolled out from behind their cover and began crawling in the general direction of the other team. It was slow goings. The low gravity making ever pull with his elbows a small jump-hop, his body drifting a few inches off the ground with every step.

When he got to Devlin's team he found the three of them without a leader -as he had expected. But also without a flag and that wasn't expected. Devlin must have taken it with him. After all, there was no official rule forbidding a team from removing their own flag from its poll. He probably thought it'd be safer with him than on the flagstaff. He was probably right to. But Kenny would worry about that later.

He unholstered his training blaster and fixed the sight on the nearest cadet to him. At present, he was to their backs and they were blissfully oblivious to his very existence. So, he shot one in the back. Perhaps not the most honorable of moves, but it was effective. Unfortunately, it also alerted the other two to his presence and he had to duck and roll to avoid being tagged out of the game himself by their return fire. At least they weren't shooting at his team anymore.

Kenny flicked his comm link. "This is Tennyson. Enemy flag is moving. Repeat: enemy flag is moving. Devlin's got to have it. Watch out!"

The response came back, quick and frustrated. "We know! He's here!"

"Don't let him get our flag! Take his! Take his!" Kenny would have said more, except one of the enemy team's shot got lucky enough to connect with his suit just as Magister Wheels called the end of the match. Kenny had the sinking suspicion that he had lost.

Both squads collected in a semi-circle around the Magister. And low and behold, Devlin had his own team's red flag tied around his arm with Kenny's team flag clutched in his fist. The obnoxiously smug, overachieving jerk!

"What the heck was that?" He demanded.

Everyone exchanged uncertain glances. No one knew exactly what Wheels was asking, so it wasn't exactly like they could answer. That was okay. The question was rhetorical anyway.

"Tennyson! Explain your apparent suicide mission?" He demanded. "No one ever got anything done by throwing their life away. What in the 'verse possessed you to do something so stupid?"

Kenny shrugged sheepishly, feeling unfairly embarrassed. "It seemed like the thing to do…"

Wheels sighed. Naïveté and heroism to the point of stupidity seemed to be genetic traits in the Tennyson family. Just as much as aggression and stubbornness were traits of the Levin family line. "Fake-Tennyson! Please explain to me what compelled you to leave your squad behind and go off on your own?"

Devlin did not shrug with embarrassment or hesitate with uncertainty as Kenny had. Instead, he raised his chin as if rising to a challenge and replied, "I was just using everyone to the best of their skills."

"And how is anyone gonna improve those skills if you don't give them a chance to get in some combat experience of their own?"

To that, Devlin remained tactfully silent.

Magister Wheels sighed with exasperation. "Okay, hit the showers everyone. Fake-Tennyson, I wanna see you in my office after you've cleaned yourself up."

This was met with a chorus of jeers. "Ooh… someone's in trouble…"

…

Pierce Wheels' office looked more like something one would have in their private home rather than a formal institution. Both Devlin and Kenny had been in the office many times since they started attending the weekend Academy one year ago. Devlin had been surprised to find it carpeted with an Ikea throw-rug, comfy looking armchairs. He would have expected a Magister's office to look more spartan, practical and bare.

But photos lined the walls and crowding the desk -not all of them Academy or even Plumbers related photos. Personal photos, family portraits. One in particular featuring Magister Wheels himself, standing next to a Kineceleran female and a Tetramand male -his sister Helen and her then partner now husband Manny. Next to this photo was one of hybrid child. One with blue skin and four arms. Helen and Manny's daughter. Pierce was a very proud uncle.

Devlin ignored these as he entered the office. Clasping his hands behind his back, he stood at parade rest. "You wanted to see me, sir."

Magister Wheels looked up from the e-reader he'd been studying. "Sit down."

Uncertainly, he took a seat.

Wheels regarded him from across the desk for a few moments before asking, "Is there something you're trying to prove?"

"Sorry?" Devlin blinked at him.

"Or do you just object to working within a team on principal?"

"I don't understand." The teen confessed, brushing his dark bangs out of his face. "If you're upset about what happened during the combat exercise today, why isn't Kenny here too? He pulled almost the exact same maneuver I did. Or am I being penalized for… other reasons?"

Pierce raised an eyebrow at the fact that the boy would even consider he was summoned to this meeting for anything other than his performance and he wondered what 'other reasons', real or imagined, Devlin could think of for him to merit a talking-to from a Magister.

"The defining factor is your motivations for pulling a stunt like that." He elaborated. "Kenny's reasons are pretty cut and dry: he was trying to help his team. He might not have made the best long-term decision, but that's a trait he inherited from his father." Did Devlin's hands tighten around the chair's armrests? "Kenny was still being -or trying to be- a team player. He still maintained open communication with his team even though he broke away from the unit. What I want to know is how you justify leaving your team behind to be nothing more than a diversion and worse, cannon fodder, while you go off and capture the prize by your lonesome."

"Isn't that the point of the exercise, sir? To achieve the objective?"

"No, its not!" The Magister's spines bristled at the suggestion. "The point of the exercise it to learn how to, and get used to functioning as a team. So, I'm gonna ask again, is there something you're trying to prove?"

There was a prolonged pause in which Pierce thought the boy might be giving the question some serious thought. At least, he hoped he was giving the question some serious thought. Being Gwendolyn Tennyson's son, he could just be taking a tactical pause to convince Pierce of the sincerity of his answer.

"No, sir." Devlin finally answered.

Magister Wheels sighed and leaned back in his chair, regarding him for a moment. Then decided to approach this from a different angle. "Devlin, do you know why I call you 'Fake-Tennyson'?"

Those unearthly bright green eyes flashed with something for a moment. He might not know the actual reason, but he certainly had his own ideas about why he was called 'Fake-Tennyson' within the Academy. And Pierce was sure that not a one of them was even close to what actually came out of the boy's mouth. "To be funny, sir. 'Tennyson' is not the name printed on my birth certificate, so enrolling here as 'Tennyson' is really no different than using a fake name."

"Well, you're not wrong." But they both knew that wasn't even close to what Devlin actually believed. "But that's not why _I _do it. I call you 'Fake-Tennyson' because you're trying to be something you're not. Tennysons are naive, overly trusting, scatterbrained, slackerish, and prone to goofing off. You are none of those things. From what I've seen of you, you're tactical, skeptical, hard-working, and serious. These are not Tennyson traits, so claiming them to be is false."

Pierce could clearly see that this was not the explanation the boy had been expecting to hear. But he didn't comment on it. Instead, Devlin said, "Tennyson is my _mother's_ name. There is no reason why I should be anything but a Tennyson."

Ah. So that was the issue. Magister Wheels steepled his fingers, regarding the boy with new eyes. So that was it. He wasn't trying to be something that he wasn't, he was running away from something that he was.

Truth be told, Pierce never really knew Kevin Levin all that well. They had worked together a number of times over the years, but that was the full context of their interactions. Ever. They didn't exactly socialize. Not like he socialized with Helen and Manny, or Kevin socialized with Ben and Gwendolyn. But from his own personal experience with the man, Kevin Levin was a fairly decent guy. A little rough around the edges, but certainly not a _bad_ man.

It was true he was currently in Incarceration in the Null Void and had been for the past sixteen years. But, according to the reports he'd read, it wasn't for some great, dark, nefarious, or evil plot. Oh, sure he had tried to absorb an infant Celestialsapien. Absorbing it would have effectively killed it. So, if he had succeeded in his plans, Kevin would have been guilty of infanticide. But when one read the motive for his actions, you couldn't help but understand why he did it. Or, tried to do it. That didn't excuse the attempt. Of course not. Killing a child is still killing a child, even if it was to save the life of another. That was why he was thrown in Incarceration instead of just given a slap on the wrist and returned to his family. But that did not make him a bad man.

So, why did Devlin seem to hate the Levin side of him so much so that it drove him to deny it?

Then it hit him. "Devlin, how old are you?"

"I turned sixteen over winter break. Why?"

"You don't remember your father, do you? You wouldn't, you must have only been a few weeks old when he was sentenced."

The boy suddenly went very, very stoic. His face an impassive mask hiding whatever he might really be feeling beneath the surface. "I don't see what that has to do with today's exercise, sir."

"It has to do with me understanding why you seem to refuse to trust your teammates and -from all outward appearances- are afraid to rely on people." Magister Wheels explained. "If you don't cure yourself of that soon, I'm gonna have to recommend you be dropped from the Academy's weekend program."

"What!? You can't do that! Why?"

"In case you haven't noticed, the Plumbers are a cooperative organization. We rely on each other. If you can't trust the man you're with, then you end up dead." He explained. "If you can't work within a team, then there's really no point in continuing your training." The boy looked like he'd just been stabbed in the gut and had his innards torn out. "Devlin, why is it so important for you to become a Plumber in the first place?"

Once again the boy was a long time in answering, only this time Pierce was sure it was because he was thinking on his answer and how best to phrase it. "I want to help people…" He began slowly. "I want to _protect_ people. I wanna protect the universe, keep it safe from crazy Saturday morning super-villains and prove that I'm not-" He cut himself off abruptly.

"That you're not, what?" Magister Wheels prodded patiently. "So, you _are_ trying to prove something. Finish what you were gonna say, Devlin. Prove that you're not… your father?" The fact that the boy was doing everything in his power to avoid eye contact told Pierce all he needed to know. "Devlin, you didn't even know your father. Don't you think its a little unfair to pass judgment on him without knowing him first?"

At that, the boy snarled with sudden anger -or maybe it was frustration? "How can I know him, he's in _prison_! For trying to absorb an infant Celestialsapien. He's a baby-killer! Or at least, he would have been if Uncle Ben hadn't stopped him. That sounds pretty evil to me! And that guy is my- -my father. I think I have a very legitimate reason to not want to admit he's a part of me. If that makes me a 'Fake-Tennyson', then fine! I'll be a Fake-Tennyson! Even a fake Tennyson is better than a _real_ Levin!"

All to late, Magister Wheels realized he was opening a can of worms that he just did not want to have to deal with. This was an issue to be dealt with by the boy's family. The people who knew Kevin intimately. Not some guy who's team occasionally worked with his team. They were never that close. He was the boy's teacher and that did make Pierce at least somewhat responsible for him, but certainly not to this extent. He had neither the training nor the understanding to deal with what was quite obviously a deep seeded psychological issue.

"Alright, Devlin, I see your point." He said, trying to calm the boy down. "Tell ya what, I'm gonna excuse you from your next period so you can cool down and reflect on this conversation. The guest lecturer this weekend is your mother anyway, so I'm sure you're probably already heard what she's discussing anyway. Take an hour of free time."

"Yes, sir." He stood, subdued.

…

Noticing that her son was absent from the lecture hall, Gwen went in search of the boy first chance she got after the bell rang. She thought he might have really benefitted from her subject -the impracticality of black-and-white moronity versus the difficulty of gray ethics. It didn't take Gwen very long to realize that as soon as Devlin was old enough to understand exactly why his father didn't live with them he started filing things into two categories: right and wrong. And there was no middle ground with him. It was impractical because it left no room for nuance.

But then again, this was a conversation they'd had before. So maybe he wouldn't have benefitted from hearing in a formal school setting anyway. He might take a page out of Kenny's book and just tune out the lecture or fall asleep. Maybe it was a good idea he skipped her lecture, it might have just added tension to their next conversation. Gwen had a feeling their next conversation was gonna be tense no matter what. She was going to ask him what he thought of Cooper and what he would think of Cooper living with them.

She eventually found her errant son in one of the weekend Academy's gymnasiums. He had pulled out a couple of tumbling mats and had sequestered himself in a corner practicing his kata sets and falls. If Devlin was anything, he was diligent it was a trait he inherited from her. Practice, study. Study, practice. Kevin subscribed to the 'learn as you go and hope for the best' school of thought.

Gwen leaned against the wall just inside the doorway and watched her son's practice. Faint left hook, followup real right hook, back-flip, back-flip, two-foot kick, launch into standing positing, dive, shoulder roll, stand. Repeat. Faint left hook, followup real right hook, back-flip, back-flip, two-foot kick, launch into standing positing, dive, shoulder roll, stand. Repeat. Gwen wondered how long he'd been going at it. Sweat dripped off his forehead and back, the shirt of his Academy uniform lay abandoned on the floor with his standard issue boots, and the mats looked wet from his perspiration.

It was time he had a break.

She crossed the room to him, clapping her hands twice to get his attention. "Time for a cool down."

"Mom?" Devlin blinked at her, sweat making his dark bangs cling to his forehead and the sides of his face. "I thought you were in lecture hall."

Gwen shook her head, trying not to give into amusement. She, too, lost track of time when she was studying or practicing. Sometimes it really did seem to her that they were the asme person. If it weren't for the fact that Devlin looked so much like his father, Gwen might sometimes wonder if there was any Levin blood in him at all. She withdrew a napkin from her purse, she'd been carrying napkins with her wherever she went for many years now. She'd been carrying a purse with her too. "C'mere, you're a mess."

"Mom. No. Not here."

She payed no attention to his protests and began wiping the sweat from his face with her napkin, as is every mother's privilege. And the more it embarrasses the child, the better. It was a sort of subtle revenge for the twenty-seven hours of labor she had to go through to bring him into this world. He growled in frustration and voiced many more protests -which she ignored- but didn't make any real move to stop her. He knew it was pointless. When Gwen was satisfied that his face was suitably clean, she released him.

Devlin bent down to retrieve his discarded shirt and attempt to reclaim at least some of his dignity. The gym wasn't exactly full of people, but it was by no means empty either. Other cadets used the space on their off periods to practice their skills, spar with squad mates, or just hang out. Many of them were giving him mooching stares. Still it could have been worse. She could have spit in the napkin first. Gr. Moms.

"Did you want something that couldn't wait until I got home Sunday night?"

"Actually, yes." Gwen nodded. "Lets take a walk."

Devlin pulled his boot back on his feet and stood, following her out of the gym.

Much like the main Plumbers Academy in the Galvan system, Earth's weekend Academy was located -not of Earth herself- but rather was a station orbiting the planet. Gwen turned them down one of the outer corridors so they they could enjoy the luxury of windows. The stations rotation, which simulated gravity, made it so that the view out the windows was constantly changing. At present, it featured a look out away from the planet. An inky blackness dotted with the million pinpricks of stars and the occasional blinking light of another station or a ship out there.

"So, what'd you need?" Devlin asked his mother when neither had spoken for a while.

"What do you think of Cooper?" She asked.

The boy only shrugged. "Professor Daniels? He's alright, I guess. His Alien Tech and Adaptive Engineering class is one of my favorites. Its actually given me a couple ideas on how to make my car space-worthy."

"So, you like him then?" Gwen pressed.

"He's a good teacher." Another shrug. Then a pause. Then, "Does this have anything to do with what Uncle Ben said yesterday?"

"What did Ben say yesterday?"

A third shrug. "Just reminding me that you and Cooper have been dating for almost a year now and that you and he might be taking your relationship to the next level. Is that it? Are you asking for my blessing or something?"

Of course he would already know what she was asking. He was her son, after all. That meant he was smart. "Do you want Cooper to come live with us?"

He waved his hand dismissively. The view out the windows no featured the Earth, climbing from a bottom corner of the frame, up to the opposite corner in an effort to fill their view. Devlin watched it because he didn't want to look at his mother when he answered. "What I want is kinda immaterial. In another two years I'll be out of the house. Away at the _real_ Plumbers Academy. So, forget what I want, Mom. I don't care who you date or who you marry. What is it that _you_ want?"

That was the question, wasn't it. What did Gwen want?

…


	4. What Cooper Wants

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment

Thorns

Chapter Three: What Cooper Wants

"I'm sorry, Cooper. But I can't." Gwen slid the ring across the table. "If you wanna continue what we already have, I'd like that. But I can't marry you. It wouldn't be fair."

Cooper looked crestfallen -ney, _heartbroken_. Blue eyes starring at the velvet ring box as if he didn't quite understand. He made no move to pick it up and put it away. Just left it sitting there on the table between them. Running a hand though his golden hair he asked, "Unfair to who? I love you, Gwen! And I like Devlin well enough, too. Ben and I are pretty close now. We have all the same friends. We've known each other since forever! What's the problem?"

Gwen hesitated. Honesty was usually the best policy, but it just seemed so unfair to tell him that she didn't love him after they'd been going out for a year. Not to mention the fact that Cooper had been madly head-over-heels, over the moon, stupid in love with her since they were children. After all that, she finally gave him a chance and he thought it was going well enough to ask her to marry him. It would crush him!

Even if she didn't tell the truth, she should at least say something.

He was gazing at her so expectantly.

Why wasn't she speaking?

Say something!

At this point it didn't matter what came out of her mouth so long as it was words.

Any words will do.

"I'm still in love with Kevin!" _Damn it!_ Why? Why out of all the things that could tumble out of her mouth, did she have say_ that_? What was freaking _wrong_ with her!? Kevin had been out of the picture for almost two decades now. There was absolutely no reason to still be hung up on him. He was gone! Get over it!

Now it was Cooper's turn to stare speechless.

_Kevin_.

His name hung like a black shroud between them. To Cooper it seemed like Kevin had always been between them. When they were teenagers. When they were Plumbers. When they were trying to help the world adjust to alien contact. Even now that they had become boring old adults. Even now that Kevin had been gone for years. He was still between them. Preventing them from being together. The eternal road block. Kevin was what was wrong with everything in Cooper's life.

"I… see…" Slowly, almost mechanically, he reached for the ring box, replacing it in his pocket. "Even after all this time… you still choose him."

"I'm sorry, Cooper." And she really, really was sorry. She liked Cooper and she didn't want to hurt him. But she just wasn't in love with him and it wouldn't be fair to either of them if she married a man she didn't love.

"No. I'm sorry." He growled. Frustration coloring his voice to the point that it was almost unrecognizable as his own. "I'm sorry I thought I might even have a chance with you now. But, ya know, you're right. Its to soon. I mean, he's only been gone _sixteen years_! I should give you more time to get over him. Shall I come back in fifty years? Or eighty? How about after I'm dead!? Is that good for you? WIll that be enough time?"

"You have every right to be upset." She had basically been stringing him along for the past year. "I thought I could fall in love with you if I just gave it a chance. You've always been devoted to me, and you're intelligent, well educated, respectful… everything a woman wants in a man."

"Just not what _you_ want." Cooper finished for her. "Oh, no. I'm not good enough for the great Gwendolyn Tennyson. She wants a rude, uneducated, motor head, street-thug who's been in and out of the Null Void since he was eleven years old! Oh. Oh! And, lets not forget Osmosian to boot! He could suck you dry and leave you an empty, lifeless sack of skin, and be so drunk on your energy that he doesn't even give a flying kriff about it! That's what you want! Why? Because he's dangerous? Does that excite you? He could kill you, and you love the danger of it? Is that it?"

"No! That's not it at all!" Well, maybe a little bit in the beginning. But she got over that real fast after his third mutation, the one where she had to use herself as bait to lure him to their cure. After that, the dangerous Osmosian side of him wasn't exciting anymore. But Gwen didn't love him any less because of it. In fact, she might even have loved him more. Gwen saw him at his very worst. His absolute worst. But instead of seeing a horrible, savage, destructive, malicious monster, all Gwen saw was a lonely scared man who wasn't in control of his own actions and he was terrified by it. Someone who needed her help, not her scorn. "I can't make you understand it, so I won't try. You can think whatever you want about it, its not like I can stop you. But I just can't marry you because of it. It just wouldn't be fair to you."

"Right. Cause you've always cared so much about what's fair to me." Cooper scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest in a huff. "That's why you asked me to help you change him back after he absorbed the Ultimatrix's _and_ Aggregor's powers, became an even worse terror than ever before, _and_ tried to absorb _you_ too! Of all the ways I could have helped you at that time, you asked me to help save my only viable romantic rival. You basically asked me to sabotage myself. Yeah. That was really fair to me, Gwen. Great way to consider my feelings there."

"Cooper, it was because of what you did for us back then that I thought I could be happy with you now!" She insisted.

"No. You were just being selfish and that hasn't changed. You're being just as selfish now as you were back then. As you've _always_ been! Its always 'oh, Kevin! Kevin! I'm still in love with Kevin! Kevin is the only one for me!' Its getting old! He's in the Null Void for trying to absorb a baby Celestialsapien -for trying to kill a child! That's what completely absorbing something does, Gwen, kills it! The fact that you can just completely ignore that worries me! Especially since he's tried to absorb _you_ in the past! Aw, hell! His mutant spawn nearly killed you while you were pregnant with it! How can you-"

Whatever he was going to say, Cooper didn't get to finish it. Gwen stood from the table, splashing her iced tea in his face. "Say whatever you want about me." She snarled low and threatening in the back of her throat. Her normally green eyes glowing star sapphire with anger. "I've made my grown-up choices and I own them. But don't you dare- _Don't. You. Dare_ drag my son into this! Devlin hasn't done anything to deserve your scorn!"

And in a moment of glittering horror, Gwen realized that if that was what he really thought about her son, then Cooper really wasn't the man she thought he was. Any guilt she had at the onset of this conversation was gone. It was a good thing she decided she couldn't be with Cooper. Not just for her own sake, or even for his. But for her son's sake. She did not want a man like this around Devlin.

Without another word, Gwen spun around and stormed out.

…

What a bitch!

Gwendolyn Tennyson was such a bitch!

Cooper didn't know why he thought anything would be different. Gwen had always been a bitch. To self-absorbed to realize just how insensitive to his feelings she really was. How long had he been in love with her? How many times had he placed his own happiness to the side for her?

And finally, when he thought that she might actually have gotten over herself and her infatuation with that delinquent, and _he_ might actually have a chance… nope. '_I'm still in love with Kevin._' Kevin! Kevin! Kevin! It was always Kevin! Always! Gone for almost two decades now and yet still getting in Cooper's way. The eternal roadblock. He hated that guy. Oh, how he hated that guy. And maybe he hated Gwen a little bit too. For always choosing Kevin over him.

It just wasn't fair.

In an effort to distract himself from the complete and total catastrophe that was his lunch with Gwen, Cooper threw himself into a project. Any project. His lab was full of bits and pieces of alien technology. Most of it was rather well sorted, but, as with any partly-mad genus, there was the occasional scattered mess. Eyes going a cerulean blue, various parts from all over the room picked them selves up and cantered through the air to rotate in front of Cooper until they found ways to fit together with one another.

And it didn't even make any sense for Gwen to be so gaga over Kevin. Not now and not even back then either. He was Osmosian for cripes sake! He fed off energy. Gwen was an Anodite. A creature made of pure energy. It was like a tuna being in love with a shark! Or a hamburger being in love with a person. An egg loving a frying pan. Was it the danger? Did the danger make it exciting? Did the excitement make her hot? She did lead a dangerous life as a general rule. Did she let him feed off her while they were doing it? Did that get her off!?

Cooper shook his head. He did not want to think about things like that.

He tried to focus again on the pieces in front of him. Trying to fit together. Like putting together a puzzle that he didn't know the picture for. Making connections that others might not have considered. This was easy. Machines and technology was easy. He understood things. Things behaved in predictable ways. Things could be understood and predicted, which meant they could be controlled. Unlike women. Women were a mad mess of contradictions wrapped up in a soft, curvy package of temptation and scorn. _Gwen_ was a mad mess of contradictions wrapped up in a soft, curvy package of temptation and scorn.

She was a model student from an upper-middle class family, went to a good school, was active in extracurriculars, and an active member of the community. Kevin was a rude, uneducated street-thug with a rap-sheet that included trying to kill her family. What did she see in him? But then, maybe that was it. Maybe that was what Cooper was missing. He'd never tried to kill her family or anyone close to her, so he must be boring. Maybe if he'd tried to help Ben kill Kevin that one time instead of helped Gwen save him, she'd be his by now and Kevin would be long dead. Devlin wouldn't exist and there'd be nothing to get in the way of his happiness with the woman he wanted.

Cooper rotated a cylander on the device he was creating and swapped two wires, feeling their placement was juxtaposed.

Maybe that was it. Gwen was only interested in men who tired to kill either her, her family, or her friends. Hadn't she also dated Michael Morningstar -Darkstar. Yeah. She had. And then there was that Forever Knight Squire, too. That was it! That was the pattern. That was what Gwen liked. That was what he was missing. He was to nice. She liked the bad boys. The dangerous men. The ones that could kill her or the ones that have_ tried _to kill her.

Danger.

Risk.

Those were Gwendolyn Tennyson's true loves.

She wasn't really still in love with Kevin. She was in love with the _idea_ of Kevin. With the danger that he used to represent for her.

That was why it couldn't work out between them. Cooper was to much of a nice guy. He just wasn't dangerous enough for her.

At that realization, Cooper stopped working on his project. Gwen didn't love men. Gwen loved risk. Gwen loved danger. Gwen loves risky and dangerous men. That was something he wasn't. Glumly, Cooper picked up his new invention to examine what he'd created. It was a smaller version of an energy absorption relay, not unlike the ones imployed by the Synthroids on their home planet.

And Gwen was pure energy.

Hm. Maybe he could be dangerous for her after all…

The alarm on his watch beeped, he was late for Alien Tech and Adaptive Engineering class at the weekend Academy. He could be dangerous for Gwen, but not any time soon. Right now he had a day job to get to.

…

Devlin was ambivalent to Cooper Daniels as a person and -more importantly- his mother's boyfriend. He felt it just wasn't any of his business. Who his mother chose to spend her free time with was her concern. But Devlin did love Professor Daniel's Alien Tech and Adaptive Engineering class.

Even since before he started restoring the old muscle car in the back of the hangar, Devlin had had an interest in alien tech. He liked taking things apart, seeing how they worked and putting them back together again. Adding some things to other things, like how he added the repulser-lift nodes to the undercarriage of his car to make it hove and able to drive in the skylanes. Professor Daniels had also given Devlin a couple ideas on how he could modify the car even further to allow it to achieve escape velocity and travel in the outer atmosphere or even in finite space.

But more than just ideas for his car, Daniels introduced the idea of 'adaptive engineering' -hence the name of the class. Adaptive engineering was basically a fancy name for 'putting crap together on the fly with what you have immediately available to you and hoping it doesn't blow up in you face'. This was a very useful skill for a Plumber -and just a person in general- to have, in Devlin's opinion.

So, while he almost always showed up to all his classes at the weekend Academy on time, to ATAE he usually showed up early, sat in the front row, and paid uncommonly close attention.

And so Devlin couldn't help but notice that Professor Daniels was late. He was usually already in the room by the time he showed up and Devlin showed up absurdly early. When Daniels didn't show up by the time Kenny appeared and took a seat next to him, Devlin started to wonder if his mother was keeping his favorite teacher. If that was the case, and if this was going to become a pattern, then he id not like the idea of them moving in together. But when he still hadn't appeared by the time the rest of the class filed it, Devlin started to wonder if something was wrong instead.

Even the class noticed when the bell rang and Daniels still was no where in sight.

He finally did stumble through the door six minutes late, golden hair a wild mess, a box of random mechanical parts jangling under one arm. "Sorry I'm late. I hope you all remember last week's discussion of the DNAlien Cure guns as an excellent example of Adaptive Engineering."

Cooper set the box of parts down on his desk and looked up at his class. Saw Devlin sitting in the front row (as was usual) and paused. The last thing he needed right now was to see Kevin's face staring at him from the front row of his own damn lecture hall. He took a deep breath to steady himself and then launched into one of the single most awkward classes he'd ever had to teach. Not because the subject matter was particularly difficult -in fact, todays subject was rather basic material- but because he had to spend the entire hour looking at _Kevin's stupid face_ on Gwen's son.

Devlin just _had_ to look like his dad. He couldn't look like Gwen. Oh no. The universe just was not fair. At all.

It was a huge relief when the bell finally rang, signaling the end of class.

"Devlin, see me before you go home."

…

Considering everything that was going on in their personal lives, Devlin wasn't surprised that Cooper wanted to see him before he left the weekend Academy Sunday night. He probably wanted to asked Devlin to be his best man. Which seemed silly to Devlin. If they were going to have a traditional ceremony, he should be the one giving his mom away, not standing next to Cooper. But whatever. Grown ups were weird. He'd just refuse politely and go home.

So, he was very confused when he walked back into the ATAE classroom to find it completely dark.

All the lights off. The equipment shut down. Not even the low standby lights to show that the terminals were even still plugged into the power source. The room was pitch blackness and as soon as the door slid shut behind him, Devlin couldn't see a thing. The hairs stood up on the back of his neck, the current situation not adding up to what he thought was going on. This felt like a trap, but Cooper was about to be a member of the family. He wouldn't be setting traps for him.

Unless this wasn't a trap for him but for Cooper and he was an interloper. Or, this was a wacky training exercise he had to figure out.

Whatever it was, Devlin didn't really have the time to stand there and figure it out. Something sharp was inserted into his neck and he had the sudden and unpleasant feeling of a syringe pumping something cold into his bloodstream. There was the sudden feeling of falling and Devlin's last conscious thought before he blacked out completely was of just how confused he was.

…

Cadets got to and from the weekend Academy via licensed teleporters.

Kenny waited in the parking lot next to the car for Devlin. Usually, these roles were reversed and it was Devlin sitting in the car, his music blaring, reading a book, waiting for Kenny. But seeing as how he was asked by a teacher to stay after classes, it was more than understandable that he would be late. Kenny just wished he had a key to the car so that he could wait inside it and not next to it.

What was keeping Devlin anyway?

It wasn't like after classes was the only opportunity Professor Daniels would get to talk to him. The man was dating his mother after all. It wasn't like they never saw each other outside of the Academy.

Kenny yawned and checked his watch. Wow, had it really already been an hour since he was standing here?

What was Cooper talking to him about away way? The seating arrangement for the wedding? His permission?

In an attempt to stretch his legs, Kenny jogged a couple times around the car. Then he did a couple of squats. Lifted his duffle bag. Then gave up on attempting to pretend he was fit and pulled out his PS10. It was at the second save spot when he paused to check his watch again. It had been two and a half hours now. This was ridiculous. There was no reason for a student-teacher conference to last this long.

Something was up.

Kenny switched his game off and stowed it back in his bag. Crossing the parking lot, he walked back to the teleporters and swiped his cadet ID card over the card reader to activate telepad. His body was enveloped in golden light and the sight of the green and black car, alone in the parking lot, faded from his vision and was quickly replaced with the common area of the weekend Academy station.

It was empty now. Kenny being the only one there. Oh, he was sure there were faculty and staff members still up here. But none were walking about.

He went strait to Cooper's ATAE classroom but found the place completely empty. No Devlin. No Professor Daniels. Had Kenny just missed them? Was Devlin beaming down to the parking lot just as Kenny had been beaming up to look for him? He supposed it was possible. Kenny doubled back to check.

The golden glow of the teleporter faded to reveal the empty parking lot once again. Empty, say for one single car. All green muscle car with black racing stripes and more modifications than Kenny could even name. He crossed the parking lot expecting to find Devlin sitting in the driver's seat, either reading a book or looking impatient. But his cousin still wasn't there. Now Kenny was getting worried.

He pulled out his phone and speed-dialed Devlin's cell. It went strait to voicemail.

Now Kenny was very worried.

Devlin was usually fairly responsible and if he was going to be late, he would have texted. But then, they had just gotten out from the Academy, maybe he just hadn't turned his phone back on yet. Except he still should have switched it on at least once to tell Kenny he was running late. But no such text had been received. It was like Devlin had just dropped off the face of the Earth.

Kenny gave up on calling Devlin and instead dialed his father. The great Ben Tennyson usually had a piss poor track record when it came to answering his civilian cell, he responded much better and much more quickly to his Plumbers badge. So, it came as no surprise when, after a couple of rings, that too went to voicemail. Kenny, not yet having a badge of his own yet would have to go through the switchboard to get a call through from his cell phone. So, he gave up on calling his father and decided to call Aunt Gwendolyn instead.

Aunt Gwendolyn was usually pretty reliable. And she picked up her phone on the second ring.

"Hey, Kenny." She answered. "Are you and Devlin almost home? Its getting late. Did you hit traffic. The hover-lanes should be pretty clear right now. Are you having car trouble?"

"Uh, actually, Aunt Gwendolyn… We haven't left the Academy yet. I, uh, I can't find Devlin."

He couldn't see her face over the phone, but Kenny could have sworn that her whole demeanor changed. She knew as well as he did that Devlin was responsible enough to call if he was gonna be late, to not leave his cousin sitting out in the parking lot alone, and to definitely not disappear completely. So something had to be up. "Where was the last time you saw him?"

"When our last class was getting out." Kenny supplied. "Professor Daniels had asked to see him before we went home, so he was on his way back to Cooper's ATAE classroom. I said I'd meet him at the car. That was three hours ago by now."

"Where are you right now?" Aunt Gwendolyn's voice had a sort of quiet, dangerous tone to it. It was a voice Kenny had only ever header her use she she was heading out to a mission. It was her Plumber's voice. Why would she be using her Plumber's voice just to find Devlin?

"In the parking lot, by the car."

"Stay where you are. I'm coming to you."

…

Upon waking up, the first thing Devlin noticed was how amazingly _fantastic_ he felt! Ever muscle in his body was relaxed, all the tension having melted out of his body. He felt weightless, like he was drifting in a fluffy cloud of bliss. Oh, there was something solid under him. He wasn't literally floating. He was laying on something hard and mildly cold. But it didn't bother him.

The second thing he noticed was that he couldn't move. At all.

This _should_ have bothered him. This should have terrified him. This should have made him panic so hard as to involuntarily trigger his transformation. But it didn't.

At this realization a giggle escaped his lips. A giggle of unchanneled hysteria? A giggle of novel amusement? A giggle caused by whatever it was coursing through his system that kept him paralyzed but happy about it?

Above him was a a high ceiling paneled in stainless steel. Very well lit. The bright lights glared down at him with blindingly white light, their perfect rays marred only by flashes and sparkles of color that Devlin was sure had more to do with whatever drug was in him rather than the light itself. His retinas misfiring. He giggled again.

"Awake I see." A voice from beyond his field of vision said. But Devlin didn't have to see him to recognize the speaker.

"Cooper? Is that you? What's going on? Who did this? Where are we?"

Cooper didn't answer any of these questions. Instead, he asked, "Can you move your arms or legs?"

"No." He answered, his vision swimming with color and lights. "Can you move?"

Again, Cooper ignored his question. "Try transforming."

Devlin took a deep breath. It was difficult focussing with his vision swimming and his body floating. Whatever was injected in his neck back at the Academy must not have worn off fully. Idly he wondered if this was what it felt like to be drunk or stoned. His thoughts were wandering. Transform. He had to try transforming into his other form. His monstrous original form that he'd been born in. Truth be told, Devlin hated his other form and tried to avoid using it whenever he could. That was one reason why he had perfected his hand-to-hand combat skills -so that he wouldn't need his transformation.

His mind was wandering again. Drifting as lazily as the colors behind his eyes.

Taking a second, deeper breath, Devlin tried again. Usually, when he transformed, it felt like a prickling on his skin that quickly built into a burning under his pores. His ribs strained and hurt as his sides burst with extra arms. His spine elongated into a tail. His shoulder blades extending into wings. HIs forehead and sinuses pounding as his eyes changed size and shape.

Except none of that happened.

Instead he ticked. A light tickle all over his skin. Up his arms and down his back. Over his sides and behind his knees. Under his eyes and on his nose. Devlin burst out laughing.

"Ah-ha! I can't. Ha-ha. It won't happen. Ah-ha-ha."

"Good." A short clip of a comment.

Yet in that moment everything Devlin thought he knew about this situation and what was going on changed. It was good that he was paralyzed and couldn't use his powers? So… he and Cooper hadn't been captured and taken prisoner together? Cooper was in on it? Was Cooper the one bend it? What was going on? If it wasn't for the fact that he was stoned half-way out of his mind, Devlin was pretty sure he'd be well past panicked by now.

"To answer your earlier question: we're in my lab." Cooper continued, calm as you please. "You can't move or use your powers because I injected you with a powerful tranquilizer. I'm actually glad you're awake. For a bit there I was afraid I might have killed you. The dosage was based off of your father's body-mass index and you're a bit skinnier than Kevin was at your age. Side effects include euphoria, feeling of weightlessness, and hallucinations."

Devlin heard all this, but he didn't understand it. If it wasn't for the chemically induced euphoria he was feeling right now, he might have shouted. Instead, his words came out as a muttered whine. "But… you're marrying my mom! Why are you doing this?"

"No, Devlin, actually I'm not gonna marry your mom!" Cooper snarled. "And ya know why? Because the bitch dumped me! Dumped me because she's still in love with your deadbeat father!"

This announcement was met with hysterical laughter. Not all of it caused by the drug. "Ah-ha-ha! Oh! This can't be happening to me!" He laughed some more. Wasn't Devlin just talking to Magister Wheels about Kevin yesterday? "Listen, Cooper, I have absolutely nothing to do with that man. Okay? I don't know what you expect to gain from kidnapping me, but I don't even remember him."

"T'ch, t'ch, t'ch." The older man scoffed. "Devlin, this isn't about you. You're just a hostage. This is about what its _always_ been about. This is about _Gwen_. And its about Kevin. I want Gwen all to myself, and once I have her, I want your father dead."

"You do know he's in the Null Void, right? Might as well _be_ dead."

"Not good enough."

…


	5. Confrontation

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Chapter Four: Confrontation

It didn't take Aunt Gwendolyn long to appear.

"How did Cooper seem when he told Devlin to stay?" She asked, ernest and serious, like she was questioning a witness, not her nephew (technically second cousin). "Did he seem angry? Frustrated? Did he at all look upset about something?"

"No." Kenny had to answer, because if Professor Daniels was upset about something, he didn't pick up on it. "Although… he was late coming to class and that's never happened before. Does that mean something?"

Aunt Gwendolyn straightened. "I broke up with him at lunch today. He didn't take it to well. I guess he's taking it out on my son as revenge." '_Taking it out on Kevin's son._' was what she really meant to say. But Kenny wouldn't understand that and Gwendolyn didn't feel like explaining it right now.

"Wha? But I thought-"

"Kenny, stay focused." Aunt Gwendolyn admonished. "We need to find Devlin. Are you sure he and Cooper aren't still up at the Academy?"

"Yes. I'm sure." He nodded.

"Okay. I need you to call someone to tow his car back home. While you're doing that, I'm gonna see if I can find his mana -either of their mana. If they're on Earth, I'll find them."

Gwen closed her eyes, exhaling slowly. Usually when tracking someone by their mana, she needed an item that belonged to them. Something they touched often and was permitted with their psychic scent. But Devlin was her son. She knew his psychic scent. She knew what his mana felt like. A strange amalgamation of her own scent and Kevin's. Both of theirs, yet still somehow all Devlin's own.

The mana scent was strong in the car. Of course it would be. Devlin spent almost a year under it, restoring every single modification Kevin had ever made to it. Sometimes she wondered if she should tell her son that the car he loved so much had belonged to the man he never got the chance to know. BUt she didn't because she was afraid he would reject it like he had rejected every other part of himself he knew came from his father and Gwen liked seeing him working on it. She liked her son having at least that small connection with his father, even if he didn't know that's why it was.

Devlin's mana was also strong around the teleporters that went up to the weekend Academy. Of course it would be there too. The weekend Academy and becoming a Plumber was probably the single most important thing in the world to him. Avery single last deck and panel of the Academy was probably infused with his excited, anxious, and passionate energy.

Gwen widened her focus. Spreading out her consciousness, searching for her son's mana in a place where it shouldn't be.

Across the city of Bellwood. There were faint traces of him at school. At Mr. Smoothy. The public library. Home, of course. An auto-parts dealer. An alien tech dealer that had been licensed to sell alien technology. All these places held faint traces of Devlin's mana, but that was to be expected. They were places he went often.

Then she found it. Found him. His real and current mana, not some few traces left behind after he'd been absent for hours or days. No. He was there right now. His aura was distorted, a strange mix of rapture and terror. Two things that should never go together. It made Gwen worry. She turned to Kenny.

"Are you ready?"

"Tow truck's on its way."

Gwen nodded and drew on her mana, eyes glowing star sapphire as a sphere of fuchsia power formed around them. "Stay close. I'm gonna teleport us and I'll need you to be point-man until I can recover."

And in a flash of sapphire light, they were no longer in the parking lot.

…

An energy absorption relay was all well and good. But by itself it wasn't very useful. At least, not without anything for it to relay the energy it absorbed into. That was Cooper's next big project while he waited for Gwen to show up. She would no doubt come herself to rescue her errant son. When that happened, he would be ready for her. The energy absorption relay would drain her Anodite power, making her weak and at his mercy. The relay would feed her stolen power into a weapon he could use to tear into the Null Void and finally destroy Kevin.

And so long as he had Devlin as his hostage, neither of them would raise a finger to stop him.

"What are you doing over there?" Devlin asked from the slab Cooper had left him on.

The tranquilizer he'd given the boy made sure he couldn't move or transform into his other form, so there was no need to scrap together any sort of cage or other restrainment for him. So, he'd left the boy reclining on one of his momentarily unused work tables. It wasn't like Copper needed the space, his current project being to big to fit on a table, and with the boy out in the open Gwen would have no need to demand proof of life or that the hostage was still well and unharmed.

"Since I can't move, you might as well talk to me." The brat continued. "You can't just tell me you wanna subjugate my mom and kill some guy in Incarceration and then expect me to not have questions! Or comments. Oh, man have I got comments. First and for most of which is that you're _kriffing_ _insane_!"

Hm. He wasn't giggling as much and was now able to express more than amusement in his voice. The tranquilizer must be wearing off. Cooper paused in his work on the weapon, the components he'd been manipulating drifting to the ground with soft clinks. Crossing to the table he left Devlin on, he opened a drawer and pulled out the bottle of tranquilizer and a new syringe. The first time, he based the dosage on the amount he would have given a sixteen-year-old Kevin. But Devlin was much lighter than his father was. Skinny and lithe, qualities he inherited from his mother. This time Cooper made sure to give him a bit less. He didn't want to boy passing out on him again. For a hostage, he needed Devlin alive and well.

"You can call me insane if you want." Cooper replied, flicking the syringe to get all the air bubbles out. "But you don't know the history here." He pulled out an alcohol swab and dabbed the side of his neck. "This has been building for over twenty years between your parents and me."

"And that justifies kidnapping and drugging a minor, planning to rape said minor's mother, and commit pre-meditated murder."

Cooper opted not to dignify that with a response. Instead, he plunged the needle in the boy's neck and depressed the plunger, pumping a second dose of the tranquilizer into his system. In a matter of moment's Devlin was giggling again. Finding the lights flashing behind his eyes to be hilarious. The euphoria and hallucinations might be a side effect of the drug, not the exact purpose, but they were amusing to watch. Devlin might have Kevin's stupid face, but he had Gwen's eyes. Gwen's almond shaped, bright, almost luminescent green eyes. Watching him laugh was almost like seeing her laugh. -Almost. Gwen's eyes still did not belong on Kevin's face.

"Ah-ha-ha. When I figure out how to beat this drug, I am going to pound the crap out of you." He giggled.

"Hm. Just like your father." Cooper went back to his work.

"I'm nothing like him!" Devlin insisted and to spite the drug, he still managed to sound vehement.

Cooper might have commented on this were it not for the fact that they were suddenly interrupted by the room violently erupting with mana. There was a flash of brilliant sapphire-fuchsia light. Then Gwen was standing there, her hands on her hips, looking more pissed off than Cooper had ever seen her in his entire life. She glared at him, dominating his attention so much so that he didn't even notice Kenny was with her until the boy looked behind him and saw Devlin laying prostrate on the work table.

"Dev!" He exclaimed.

"Hi, guys." Devlin chuckled. "Mom, your hair is so_ red_. Its like its on fire. Has you hair always been on fire?"

Gwen turned around, forgetting Cooper for a moment to focus her full attention on her son. He did not appear to be restrained in the least, yet wasn't moving at all, and was giggling and muttering inanities like he was high out of his mind.

Cooper reached a hand out and called the device he made earlier to him. The energy absorption relay.

"What's wrong with him?" Gwen demanded. Turning back to Cooper, her hands glowing with power, but her eyes were still clear and green. "Tell me what you did to my son right now, or else, Cooper, I swear…"

She left the threat to trail off into his imagination. Cooper was sure she was more than capable of visiting all manner of horrible and unusual punishments on him for harming her baby boy, but Gwen had never really been very good at voicing threats. She was just to sweet. Even when she was being an insensitive bitch, she was still so sweet.

"Devlin is fine." He assured her.

"I can't move." The brat supplied from his place on the table.

"Why can't he move?" Now those verdant green eyes turned star sapphire.

"I'm drugged." Devlin laughed. "Tee-hee. I am so kriffing stonned."

For the first time that Cooper had ever seen her, Gwen actually looked like she might kill someone. "You drugged my son? You kidnapped and drugged my son!?"

She advanced on him, hands and eyes glowing with sapphire-fucshia energy. But Kenny held her back, placing one hand on her shoulder to halt her in her step. "Uh, Aunt Gwendolyn. I think you should take a moment to look at what he's standing in front of…"

It was clearly evident on their faces the moment they both realized exactly what he'd been working on this whole time. While he waited for Gwen to appear intent on rescuing her son, the tech-wizard was not idol. He spent his time constructing a weapon to match the energy absorption relay he made earlier that day. Something for the relay to feed Gwen's Anodite energy into.

A large mobile suit. Vaguely reminiscent of the battle suit Ship would transform into for Julie, or at the very least, obviously inspired by it. But in addition to the glass dome over the shoulders where the pilot was obviously supposed to sit, was also a fixture large enough to fit a second person. Out in the open, on the chest, as if to put them on display. Like a hostage. Or a meat-shield.

"What the heck is this?" Gwen demanded.

An amused, almost malicious grin spread across Cooper's face at that question. It was an expression he'd never made before and he was amazed at just how _good_ it felt. No wonder the bad guys were so bad. It wasn't because they were actually evil. It was because someone had pushed them to their limit and it made them feel good to be spiteful and malicious. "Actually, Gwen, I'm glad you asked that."

His eyes went cerulean blue as he called on his ability to manipulate machinery without ever taking his attention off of Gwen. A thin wire cable rose from the floor in front of where he'd been working on the mobile suit before he was interrupted. It plugged itself into the chest plate, dead center where the hypothetical hostage's heart would be. The other end of the cable snaked through the air to attach itself to the energy absorption relay.

"Do you like it? I made it for you."

Gwen looked the thing up and down, not sure exactly what it meant. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothings wrong with me." Cooper smiled again. "In fact, for the first time in my life, I know what _was_ wrong with me. But I can fix it. I know what you like now. I know what you _want_. All my life, I've been the quiet one. The polite one. The smart one. The _nice_ one. But you don't want a Nice Guy, do you, Gwen. No. Like you Bad Boys. You're not really in love with Kevin. You're in love with _danger_! So, I made myself dangerous for you."

Gwen's face fell into the palm of her hands. "I can't believe I'm hearing this." She muttered. "Cooper, you're not a Bad Boy. Its actually part of your charm. Look, you're obviously taking our break-up a lot worse than I thought you would -a _lot_ worse! But release Devlin to me right now and I'll be willing to pretend none of this ever happened and I won't press charges. Okay?"

"Um. I'd like to press charges!" Devlin chimed in from his prostrate position on the worktable.

"Why are we even discussing this?" Asked Kenny. "We're standing between him and Dev. Why don't we just grab him and teleport out of here?"

There was a beat of silence.

The Cooper smirked. "Because Gwen used her powers to teleport you in here which means she's to weak to preform the same spell a second time. She's not trying to talk me down, she's stalling until her mana replenishes itself."

That's right. Kenny remembered her saying something about needing him to be point-man until she recovered from her spell. But Aunt Gwendolyn seemed so confident and strong that he completely forgot about that. She put up an excellent front. Kenny's hand went to his Omnitrix, a reproduction of his father's original Omnitrix. "Fine! Then I'll just change into XLR8, grab both Dev and Aunt Gwendolyn, and blow outta this place!"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Kenny." And Cooper's eyes once again turned cerulean blue as cables and pieces of alien tech in varying stages of construction lifted themselves up into the air. All weapons pointed at Gwen and Kenny, the cables slithered towards them, one could only assume with the extent to tangle themselves around and restrain them.

"This doesn't have to be a fight, Cooper." Gwen insisted.

"Oh, but I think it does, Gwen. Because that's what you like."

Several things happened at once. Kenny slapped his hand down on his watch, transforming himself into -not XLR8 as he intended- but WIldmutt instead. The cables launched themselves at the duo. Just as Gwen did a backflip out of the way.

The cables impacted the floor where she stood, chipping the smooth concrete. Gwen did not pause to look. She continued to move back. Away from Cooper and closer to where Devlin lay on the table.

"What did he give you?" She asked.

"I donno." He admitted. "It was in a needle. I think he got it out of a drawn in the table."

Gwen started pulling out drawer, one after another, until she found one that contained a bottle of a clear liquid and several vacuum-packed sterile syringes. She scrutinized the bottle's label. "Can you use your powers?"

"I can't transform."

"No." Gwen shook her head, casting a quick glance to see if Kenny, as Wildmutt, was still managing to keep Cooper occupied. "I mean your _powers_. Devlin, I need you to absorb some of my manna. Can you still absorb energy?"

"Mom, no- I can't- I don't do that stuff."

Gwen took one of his hands in both of hers. "We don't have a lot of time Devlin. I'll need you to be able to fight if I'm gonna get all three of us out of here. If you absorb my energy you'll be able to burn off the tranquilizer he used on you. Now, take my manna!"

"But, I-"

"Do it!" And without waiting for him to actually use his Osmosian abilities to absorb her power, Gwen gave it to him. Forcing a portion of her mana to flow out of her and into him.

It was like fire under his skin. Running up his arm from their joined hands to his shoulder, across his chest, into his heart, and then all through out his entire body. In an effort to process the foreign power now coursing through it, Devlin's body reacted the only way it knew how. Without willing himself to, he transformed. His ribs creaked and strained as two extra arms burst from his torso, ripping the seems of his shirt. His lower back ached as his spine elongated into a tail. He sat up, his head in his hands as his eyes changed shape and size, shifting their positions on his face, displacing his sinuses. Wings sprouted from his back and he let loose a roar.

Gwen pulled away. She was fairly confident she hadn't given Devlin to much of her energy. After all, if he could absorb her mana for nine months while he was in her womb and not be insane from energy-madness once he was born, than a few drops to burn off a drug and force his transformation should be like nothing.

Devlin leapt from the table, launching himself at Cooper. "I told you I'd pound the crap out of you once I beat your drug!"

"T'ch. Just like your father." Cooper muttered, not even bothering to dodge the boy's attack. Instead, one of the incomplete hovering weapons shot the boy in the side. In his monstrous form, the blast wasn't enough to actually hurt Devlin. But it did knock him off course enough that instead of ripping into Cooper with his claws, he instead went tumbling to the ground.

He rolled a few feet, the inertia of his jump keeping him going before Devlin dug his claws into the ground to stop himself. Leaving long marks in the concrete of Cooper's lab floor. "Stop comparing me to him!" The boy snarled. "I'm nothing like him!"

Cooper laughed. "How would you know? You've never met him."

"That's not Kevin's fault!" Gwen snarled, jumping between her son and her ex-boyfriend.

Devlin climbed back to his feet. Wildmutt came up beside him just as the faux-Omnitrix timed out and changed him back to human.

"Boys, you can go ahead and go." Gwen shouted over her shoulder. "The grown-ups need to talk."

"Like hell am I going anywhere!" Devlin snarled, advancing on Cooper once again. "The jerk kidnapped me. Drugged me. And planned to use me as a hostage to force my mom to submit to him. The guy deserves more than a good pounding!"

Sometimes, especially in his monster form, Devlin could be so much like his father it was uncanny. Gwen really did lament the fact that Kevin didn't get to see his son grow up. He could have taught the boy so much. Maybe if Kevin had raised him, Devlin would be able to absorb matter by now. So that his only useful power didn't have to be transforming into a shape she knew he hated.

"Um, is anyone else bothered by the fact that he hasn't tried using the mobile suit yet?" Kenny asked.

Once again, Cooper smirked. Gwen was quickly beginning to decide that she did not like seeing that expression on her friend's -_former_ friend's- face. "She needs a power source first." And his eyes fell on Gwen with a hungry expression that was hallway maniacal and wolfish. "With the power of an Anodite I can rip open a portal into the Null Void and kill the real source of all of my problems."

"What?" Gwen stared at him. Completely thrown off guard. Oh, it was jarring to learn that one of your former best friends and ex-boyfriend wanted to use her as a battery for his super-weapon. But it wasn't exactly like this was the first time anyone tried to do that. She was an energy being after all. But what really made her stop and gape with disbelief was what he wanted to do with his doomsday weapon once he had her. "You mean…?"

"I mean Kevin Ethan Mother-Kriffin Levin!" He snarled.

And with that, the time for talking was over. The exposition had been made. Everyone knew his nefarious plan. It was time to stop it.

Kenny's faux-Omnitrix had recharged and he didn't even bother toggling between the aliens -the thing never worked anyway- he just slammed his hand down to transform into the first thing the watch decided it wanted to be. This time it _was_ XLR8 and he zipped around the room in a blur of blue activity. Tying cables together so that even with his ability to manipulate tech, Cooper couldn't use them to tie anyone up, taking apart weapons father than Cooper could put them back together and just generally making a nuisance of himself.

Devlin threw himself at Cooper. His bulky mismatched body to off balanced and uncoordinated to execute any of his painstakingly practiced martial arts techniques, he just used simple brute force to overpower the physically much, much weaker tech wizard. Knocking him to the ground with one arm, picking him up again with two others. He glared at the man he thought he trusted. His teacher, his mother's boyfriend, his uncle's ally. Devlin had never really killed anything larger than a spider in his short lifetime, but at the moment he was considering it.

Cooper felt Devlin's hot breath on his face and guessed at what he must be thinking. "Hn. Just like your father."

That was it. That was the last straw. "I'm nothing like him!"

One over-sized three-clawed hand was raised to tear Cooper limb from limb, but the blow never fell. Gwen placed a pacifying hand on her son, stopping him mid-motion. "No. We're done here. Drop him." Once he was on the ground again, Gwen focused her glare on him. "Cooper, we're done. I don't ever wanna see you around my family again."

Kenny changed back into his human form and rejoined the trio, the lab now in shambles.

They turned to leave. Gwen must have recovered enough to preform a second teleportation spell, because she began to wave her arms in the motions of it. Iridescent sapphire-magenta manna swirled around them.

This was it. They were leaving. She was leaving. This was Cooper's last chance. If he didn't get her now, he never would. His eyes once again turning cerulean blue, he called to the energy absorption relay with his power and sent it flying towards the spiral of manna. It slipped in between the threads of star-sapphire energy. There was the normal flash of light that goes with any teleportation spell and for half a second Cooper thought he failed.

Then the air was pierced by a feminine cry of distress.

When the cloud of manna cleared, the boys were gone. But Gwen remained. Laying on her side, copper-red hair splayed across her face. The energy absorber lodged squarely in the center of her back. The cable that attached it to the mobile suit already relaying her Anodite power to his creation. She glared up at him through the strands of her hair.

"No, Gwen." He knelt down beside her. Taking her chin in his hands, Cooper mashed his lips against hers in a sloppy kiss. "We are far from done."

…

The boys didn't know what happened. One moment, they were in the middle of a teleportation spell and everything was fine. Then Gwen suddenly creamed and they were thrown violently out of the manna spiral.

Devlin was the first to recover, the Anodite energy his mother gave him giving him a bit of an advantage over his otherwise normal cousin. He took in his surroundings. They were in the hangar of the Plumber's Headquarters. They were home. He had landed none to gracefully on what had once been a counter for laying out parts. It was smashed to bits now. The thing never had a chance of supporting his weight in his monstrous form, not to mention he had no idea just how hard he was thrown on it when the spell went wrong.

Why did the spell go wrong anyway?

"Mom?" He called. "What happened? Did you not give yourself enough time to recover after your first teleportation?"

But Gwen didn't answer.

Instead, Devlin was answered by a pained and distinctly male sounding groan from somewhere on the other side of the hanger. He crossed the space between them to find Kenny laying face down in a tub used to clean engine parts. He had just missed hitting the tail finn of the Rust Bucket. But something about him looked wrong. It took Devlin a couple moments to realize that half his body looked like it had been pulled one way while the rest of his continued in a different direction. He was splintched. Whatever had gone wrong with the teleportation spell had gone very, very wrong!

"Mom!" Devlin tried again, more panicked this time. But there was still no answer.

Kenny groaned again.

Mom wasn't around and Kenny needed help. Fast! Devlin couldn't go back to Cooper's lab _and_ get Kenny to some version of medical treatment. He had to make a decision. Abandon his cousin and save his mother. Or put his mother out of his mind and save his cousin. If there was one thing Devlin could be sure of, it was that Cooper wouldn't kill her. He needed her alive. To power his mobile suit and invade the Null Void. Kenny on the other hand needed help _now_ or else there wouldn't be a later.

Using all four of his arms to lift his cousin and keep him as level as he possibly could, Devlin picked Kenny up and dashed from the hangar. Flew from the hangar actually. Using his wings to propel him faster than his legs ever could. He flew through the corridors of the Plumbers Headquarters, ignoring people's startled yelps as he blew past. The Plumbers had one of the best medical bays in the city.

Devlin deposited Kenny on the first available gurney he saw and called for a doctor. If the woman was terrified by his appearance he chose to ignore it. Now that Kenny was being cared for he needed to find Uncle Ben and tell him what happened. That Gwen was being held prisoner by a madman who planned to use her power to rip open the Null Void and tear into Incarseration, and accidentally freeing who knows how many Null Void convicts in the process.

…


	6. This Can't Be Happening

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Chapter Five: This Can't Be Happening

"How is he?" Ben was practically beside himself with panic when he finally arrived at Kenny's sick bed in the form of Jetray. He pounded the emblem on his chest with his fist -perhaps a bit to hard- and turned back to human.

"His condition is stable now." The doctor said without looking at him. She was busy making a few final check of his vitals before readjusting his IV flow and jotting down a few notes on her tablet. "He's strong. If left undisturbed, his body will recover on its own."

"I don't understand. What happened!?" Ben demanded.

"For that, you'll have to ask the one who brought him in. Magic is not my forte." She pushed past Ben and out of the room.

It was then that Ben noticed the hulking mass of alien parts that was sitting on the floor under the window. To big to fit in a chair, Devlin leaned against the wall, his head in his hands. And a few seconds after that, Ben's panic stricken brain registered that Devlin was in his monstrous form, not his human one. What exactly had happened!?

He crossed the room and knelt down in front of his pseudo-nephew, placing what he hoped was a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "Devlin," he began, "you need to tell me what happened to Kenny. I won't be mad, I promise. But I need to know how he got like this. You can't do magic, so how did he get splintched?"

"I had to make a choice." The boy muttered, more to himself than to Ben. "I had to save Kenny. Mom will be fine. Mom's invincible. She'll be fine."

Grabbing two of Devlin's mismatched wrists, Ben pulled the boy's hands away from his face. "Look at me, Devlin." He commanded, perhaps a bit more forcefully than he should have. But it wasn't often that he was called back to Headquarters suddenly because his son had been splintched and found his nephew sitting on the floor in a heap. "What happened to Kenny? What choice did you have to make? What's this about Gwen?"

At the mention of his mother's name Devlin broke down and started crying. The one eye that actually had tear ducts in this form turned glassy and wet. "He's got her!" The boy sobbed. "He's got her and he's gonna user her to power his weapon! She tried to teleport us out, but he got her."

Well, that explained how Kenny got splintched. "Who's got her Devlin?"

"When he asked me to stay after class, I thought it was something innocent." The boy let out a self deprecating laugh. "I was gonna ask him about some modifications I was planning to make to my car. Heh. And Magister Wheels says I'm skeptical. What does he know?"

This was getting him nowhere. If Gwen was in trouble he should just track her Plumbers badge. That would be much faster than trying to decipher the anxious ramblings of a traumatized teenager who was to agitated to transform back into his human shape. And lo-and-behold, Gwen's badge was at Cooper's lab. She was probably just having a romantic night with her boyfriend. He called Cooper.

"Hi. Sorry to bother you, but can you put Gwen on the phone. I need her to tell her son to calm down."

Devlin lifted his head to pay attention to his uncle's call. "Who is that? Is that Cooper? If it is, tell him he's dead! He so dead! Words cannot express just how dead he's gonna be by the time I'm through with him!"

Ben shushed the boy. He was on the phone after all. Some small part in the back of his mind did wonder what Cooper could have done to illicit such a vehement and violent response from the boy. Devlin was usually so calm and clear headed. Thinking and reserved.

Then Cooper answered.

"Wait. What do you mean she's not there? The tracker in her badge says she is. Hello? Cooper? Hello? What gives! He hung up on me!" A few seconds later, the tracker on Gwen's badge blinked out, having been completely deactivated. Ben looked back at Devlin who had risen to his mismatched feet. "What's going on?"

"What's going on is that your _friend_ kidnapped me, lured my mom into a trap, and plans to rip a hole in the Null Void! That's what going on!"

For a long moment, Ben just stared at him. None of that made any sense. Cooper didn't do things like kidnap kids or set traps for women. Especially not women he was dating. Last Ben had heard, things between Gwen and Cooper were great. What had happened between Friday and today to change all that? And what in the heck would Cooper want in the Null Void anyway!? Ben was missing a big piece of the picture here. A great big gaping piece of the picture. Right now he just had a bit of the frame and a couple random bits of the middle.

"Why?"

Here Devlin hesitated. "He, uh, he wants to kill a specific prisoner. Ahem. Kevin Levin."

A headache was building behind his eyes and Ben pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to stave it off. "What? Why? No. Nevermind. Just… just tell me what happened up to the point Gwen tried to teleport you and Kenny got splintched."

So Devlin explained. He told his uncle everything starting from when Cooper asked him to stay after the rest of the weekend Academy had gone home. How he ambushed Devlin in the dark and drugged him. How he was the bait to lure Gwen in. How he planned to use him as a hostage to keep Gwen complacent as he used her power to rip open the Null Void and kill Kevin.

He explained how she, he, and Kenny had thwarted all the random tech Cooper threw at them and how Gwen thought that was the end of it. They had won. The crisis was averted, they could go home. But just as they were being teleported out something went wrong. Gwen screamed and was pulled from the manna spiral. How he and Kenny materialized inside the hanger without her. How he had to choose between going back for her or saving his cousin.

"I chose Kenny." He finished.

"I'm very grateful you did." Ben placed a hand of approval on Devlin's shoulder. Then he sighed in exasperation. "Ripping open the Null Void runs the wrist of releasing everyone I've ever put away. What does Cooper think he's doing?"

To this Devlin remained silent. He had his own opinions about what Cooper was thinking, but they were all four letter words that did not need to be spoken.

Ben groaned. "There's no one alive I know who knows more about alien tech than Cooper does. Well, maybe Asmuth, but he wouldn't help with this. He'd probably just say something like 'this is a problem between Earthlings and should be solved by Earthlings'." He sighed. Looked at Devlin out the corner of his eye. Got an idea. "But… I do know someone who knows _almost_ as much about alien tech as Cooper does."

Devlin looked hopeful. "Do you think they'll help? Who are they?"

"In _this_ situation, yes, I think he will definitely help." Ben assured the boy. "Last I checked he's in solitary confinement in the Null Void Incarceration, cell number eleven. He's an Osmosian-human hybrid with a bad attitude. But there isn't a single piece of tech that he can't take apart and put back together. His name is Kevin Ethan Levin and he's your father, Devlin."

A tremor of shock rippled through the boy's body and he didn't know what to say or think.

"Actually, that's a good idea." Ben continued, complexity oblivious to Devlin's shock and sudden inner turmoil. "If Kevin's not in the Null Void anymore, then Cooper's got no reason to rip it open and the danger of releasing other criminals is erased. I'll need a couple hours to put it together."

…

Nope. Nope. Nope. This could not be happening!

Devlin snapped the book shut.

After his conversation with Uncle Ben, Devlin had retreated to his mother's library. Her magic library. Because just as he was leaving, Uncle Ben grabbed his arm and advised him that he not expel the manna his mother gave him. None of them were Anodites and the manna could be useful later, so he should keep it just in case.

That was all well and good, but that also meant that he had to stay in this monstrous hulking form that he hated.

That was brought him here. Killing two birds with one stone. Trying to find a way to store his mothers manna and return himself to human form without wasting it, and -hopefully- distracting himself from the fact that Uncle Ben was about to suddenly throw him together with his evil, psychotic, sociopathic, degenerate, deviant father! This day could not get any worse. Really. It just couldn't.

No. That wasn't true… The Incursion could invade. That would make things worse.

But aside from that. Things could not get any worse!

Devlin set the book down and picked up another.

How had things even escalated to this? Were they even that desperate? To free a man from Incarceration to help them. A man who was supposed to be imprisoned for life. A man who was confined to a solitary cell because he was to dangerous to have in with the general population. Did they really need him? Could things really be that bad? It wasn't even like trying to absorb the Celestialsapien was the first time Kevin had gone off the deep end. Though people tried not to mention it around him, Devlin over heard the grown-ups talk often enough to know that his father had absorbed the Omnitrix, not once, but _twice_ already, and both times he tried to kill Uncle Ben. One time he even tried to kill Mom!

That also begged the question why Gwen even stayed with him. But that was a family drama to be put aside for another day. One insane crisis at a time please.

Kevin Mother-Kriffing Levin!

Devlin gave up the pretense of looking through his mother's books and sat down, drawing his knees up to his chest and curling his tail around himself.

He remembered when he was finally old enough to understand exactly why it was that his father didn't live with them. He always knew his father was in the Null Void. No one in the family made any secret of that. It wasn't like it was a secret that could actually be kept anyway. Besides, his mother didn't believe in sugar-coating things. His father didn't live with them because he was in the Null Void with the bad guys. No one ever said what he was doing there. Just that that's where he was. No judgments. No implications of guilt. Just that that was where he was and that was where he was going to stay.

And Devlin thought that wasn't fair. How come the bad guys got to see his dad every day while Devlin never got to see him at all. Ever. It just wasn't fair!

As Devlin got older he learned the power of asking questions. He also learned the frustration of said questions being avoided. After asking just about everyone, the only person who gave him a strait answer was Great-Grandpa Max. He told Devlin the story of how, because he looked the way he did when he was born, his father went on a quest to try and help him. It was a noble goal, but his father just chose the wrong path and it lead him to trying to do a bad thing. It was because he tried to do that bad thing -and nearly succeeded- that he was locked up and couldn't be allowed out. He was just to dangerous. But Devlin shouldn't hate him for it. Because his father did it because he loved him so much, he couldn't think of any other way to help him.

That story actually sounded pretty nice and for a couple of years Devlin actually liked the idea of his father. He wished he'd chosen to stay instead of going off and leaving on his quest. But it was only because his dad loved him so much that he had to go.

Then he finally got the full story. Not from anyone in the family, but from school, when he was finally able to attend school with Kenny.

About how he tried to absurd an infant Celestialsapien -tried to absorb a baby. A baby from a race of omnipotent god-like beings, sure. But a baby all the same. Devlin didn't use his Osmosian ability all that much. In fact, he tried to avoid it at all cost. But he still knew what happened when something was absorbed _completely_. All the powers and abilities were transferred over and the original owner of said powers died. Died. His father tried to kill a child in order to gain its abilities.

When Devlin learned that sordid detail any illusions he might have nurtured about his father crumbled to dust. Kevin Levin was a child-killer. Or rather, he would have been if Uncle Ben hadn't stopped him. Either way, the material point was, he belonged in the Null Void. He belonged with the Bad Guys. The fact that Uncle Ben wanted to let him out was just _crazy_!

With a sigh and a conscious effort, Devlin pushed the man from his thoughts. Right now he needed to focus on regaining his human form without throwing away the manna his mother gave him. Once that was done… Once that was done, he'd go with Uncle Ben into the Null Void and help collect Kevin.

Groaning, Devlin picked up the third book on the stack he'd pulled down and began leafing through the pages. When he didn't find what he was looking for, he tossed it to the side to join the two other rejects and selected a fourth. There should be a way to store excess energy in a vessel apart from ones self. Devlin was pretty sure such an idea should be an actual thing. It was basically the same idea as all those talismans, and charms, and crap. An object with its own power that a practitioner could draw on.

And there it was.

In the fourth book, a short two page explanation on how to store manna inside physical objects. The process was actually a lot simpler than Devlin was expecting. All he needed was an object and to focus. He got up to find an object. Something small he could carry with him into the Null Void.

As he left the library, he found himself once again wondering about Kevin. He wasn't an Anodite, but he had been with his mother for a really, really long time. Did he know much about magic? If he had been here at this exact moment, could he have helped Devlin with his research? Or would he view it in the same way that Uncle Ben viewed magic, something that Gwen did and it worked for her, but he couldn't do it so he couldn't be bothered to learn about it. From what Devlin had heard about his father, it was probably the latter.

Still… it would be nice to know. He might be a cruel and evil bastard incapable of empathy. But Devlin did have to begrudgingly admit to himself that he was morbidly curios to meet the man. Would Kevin recognize him instantly? People were always telling him he looked just like his father. Would Kevin see it?

What did Kevin do when he wasn't being a mass-absorbing terror to the universe? Did he have hobbies? Devlin's main hobbies were reading and working on his car. What kind of books did Kevin like? Or if he wasn't a book person, could he be a gear-head? Was he into engines, machines, and moving parts? Uncle Ben did say he was one of the most knowledgeable people he knew when it came to alien tech. Devlin wondered if he'd like the car Devlin restored, It was contemporary to his decade, wasn't it? Maybe he'd have some ideas on how to make it space-fairing.

After a short walk, he found himself in his room. Rummaging through his desk. Hm. Pens and paperclips didn't seem practical for his purposes. Neither did any of the book lining his shelves. While books like '_Tactical Edge: Surviving Risks_' and '_Judgment and Planning in Chess_' were useful as far as learning strategy went, he couldn't exactly carry one of them into the Null Void to try and convince a madman to help them. The man who put him in the Null Void in the first place and the son he'd probably forgotten by now… What were they thinking? What reason would Kevin Levin have to listen to either of them?

Devlin sat on his bed, his tail brushing against his school bag. More so that he could tell himself he'd check everywhere rather than because he actually expected to find something, he lifted the bag and looked inside. And found exactly what he needed. A padlock. The lock he kept on his locker. Okay, so it wasn't exactly what he was imagining. But it was small and could be attached to a belt and carried with him wherever he went.

Except it needed to be touching his bare skin if he was going to absorb the energy back into himself at any point. Okay then. He could put the lock on a chain and wear it around his neck under his shirt. That would work.

That decided, Devlin folded his legs under him, in the closest approximation his bulky body could make of the Lotus position. He exhaled slowly, turning his focus inward, seeking out the foreign power coursing through him and trying to gather it all into his hands. At first nothing happened, his body not wanting to give up the power it had absorbed. But after a few moments of insistence, the manna began to flow out of his and gather in the padlock he held clasped in his hands.

His spine contracted, the tail curling back into him. The wings went next, folding into his shoulders until they too were gone. The extra arms. The mismatched eyes. After a few minutes of discomfort, Devlin was human again and his mother's manna was trapped safely inside the padlock he held.

He rolled of the bed, discarding his torn clothing as he did so and selected new underwear and a shirt. Then he paused. They might be going to the Null Void to release a psychotic madman, but this was still a Plumbers mission. Ignoring his more than considerable collection of black denim civilian clothes, Devlin instead selected his Plumbers uniform. He had never worn it outside of combat exercises at the weekend Academy. To spite everything that was going on right now, the fact that he had the chance to wear it now made him giddy. he was going on a real Plumbers' mission. No training. This was the real deal!

His uniform on, Devlin swept his hair back up into his usual pony-tail, leaving his shaved sides exposed. Padlock full of manna in hand, he headed for the hanger.

Uncle Ben was already there waiting for him when he arrived. "I thought I said you should keep the Anodite energy."

"I did." And Devlin tossed the lock up in the air and caught it again. He crossed to his tool box and started rummaging around for something that could be used to hang the lock around his neck. It had to be touching his skin for him to be able to absorb it and he couldn't exact be reaching for things during a fight. But there didn't seen to be anything that would work in his tool box.

"What are you looking for?"

"A chain for this."

With a sigh, Ben crossed the space between them. Bent down to a dust covered bottom shelf and pulled out an old, beat-up, and partly rusted red tool box. An old beat-up and partly rusted red tool box with the name 'Kevin' scratched into the paint on the side. Devlin tried to ignore this small detail, but out of morbid curiosity he looked over his uncle's shoulder to see, in addition to conventional tools, bits and pieces of randomly assorted materials. A fragment of a Taydenite crystal, a slab of stone, a spool of copper wire… Finally, Uncle Ben pulled out a large heavy-looking iron chain.

This he draped over Devlin's shoulders and clasped the two ends together with the padlock. "There now."

Devlin looked at the chain around his neck. He wasn't sure how he felt about using something that had belonged to his father. But if it worked, it worked. So he shrugged off his curiosity and conflict, and tucked the lock and chain under the breastplate of his uniform.

"Alright. Lets go."

…

They took the Rust Bucket.

Because, while they could have just teleported directly into Incarceration, the teleporters there were a one-way transfer. You could get in but not out. The whole point was to bring Kevin out, so they took a ship.

Devlin piloted. Taking comfort in the familiarity of the controls. This was something he could do. Ever since he learned to drive he could also fly. He was an excellent pilot and was always most relaxed and at ease behind the steering column of a powerful vehicle. The faster the better. Devlin liked his rides hot and fast. Which was also how he liked his pizza and his coffee.

"Pull up and doc there." Uncle Ben leaned forward in the co-pilot's seat, pointing to the currently vacant supply doc. "They're expecting us. While you were _putzing_ around in Gwen's library, I called ahead."

Adjusting their altitude and decelerating to a moderate coasting speed, Devlin did as he was told, bringing the large, verdant green ship to land just inside the Incarceration loading doc. Being designed for large, hulking freighters, the hanger had ample room for the Rust Bucket, but Devlin brought it to a full stop and parked as close to the exit as possible. In case things with Kevin turned bad and Uncle Ben decided that it really had been a bad idea all along, Devlin wanted to be able to make a fast get away. He did not want his first (and most likely only) interaction his father to end in tragedy.

The Warden met them at the foot of the ramp. "This is highly irregular, Ben Tennyson!"

"I should hope so." Ben nodded, not missing a beat. "But under the circumstances, necessary. You are to release Kevin 11,000 to me. I have the transfer order right here."

He held up his Plumbers badge and displayed a document for the Warden to see. Devlin was by no means an expert. After all, he was only into his second years at the weekend Academy, but he was pretty sure it took weeks to process one of those orders, even longer if the prisoner in question belonged in maximum security. There was no way in heck Uncle Ben could get one of those orders, signed, approved, and processed in the few hours it had been since this plan was concocted.

But the Warden barely even glanced at the document. So secure in the trustworthiness of the Tennyson name. "Solitary is down this way." He lead them down several flights of stairs. Apparently, elevators were to good for Incarceration. Until they stopped at what looked like a plain, unassuming, basement door. This the Warden opened and stepped back for them to go through. "He's in cell number eleven. We thought it was ironic."

"I'm sure he was amused." Ben smirked. There was no way in heck Kevin Levin would find that funny.

Devlin followed Uncle Ben down the brightly lit corridor of highly sanded stone. It looked like it had been cut out of the very rock of the free-floating island Incarceration was built on. Which it probably was.

Finally, they stopped at cell number eleven and Devlin held his breath. This was it. He was going to meet his father. For the first time in his life he was going to come face to face with the infamous Kevin Levin. His heart was pounding against his ribs, so much so that he wondered if Uncle Ben could hear it.

Ben unlocked the door and it swung wide open and from over his uncle's shoulder, Devlin saw his fist glimpse of the man that was his father.

He didn't really know what he was expecting. Dark and deranged, maybe. With a scared face and yellow teeth. Or wild hair and crazy eyes to match. Maybe long nails that hadn't been cut in years and a sloping, cave-man brow. Instead, what he saw was a tall man, more lean and muscular than someone who'd been locked in a tiny cell had any business being. He did have a scar, on his chin, shaped like an X (or the Roman numeral 10). Old cloths that might once have been black, but were so faded and dirty that they looked brown. Long hair that tumbled down his back and over his shoulders giving him, not so much a 'wild' look, but something similar to a jungle cat -a panther. All sleek and strait, but still a dangerous predator.

"Hello, Kevin. Long time." Uncle Ben crossed his arms over his chest. From the gap the shift in his body created, Devlin saw Kevin's eyes dart to him momentarily before focusing back on Ben. He saw Devlin, but he didn't recognize him.

"Has it been?" He growled. "I wouldn't know."

"I'm sorry about that." Ben assured him. "But it was really the only way to make sure you'd stay where we put you."

Devlin remembered all the stories about Kevin escaping the Null Void in the past. They really must have gone to some incredible length to keep him locked in this cell for nearly two decades.

"So what brings you here now?"

Unconsciously, Devlin held his breath. This was it. The man who put Kevin away for sixteen years was about to ask him for a favor. This was either going to go as well as things could be expected, or else everything was about to explode into a male-storm of vindictiveness and violence.

"I need your help." Be said flatly.

There was a beat of silence.

Then, "No."

And Kevin turned around. Laid down on his uncomfortable looking bunk. Pulled the single blanket over his head. Just like that. 'No.' As casual as you please. As if Uncle Ben had just invited him to have tea and sandwiches in the garden. Just an easy brush-off of a refusal. Devlin had to admit, of all the things he imagined, that had not been one of them. He imagined an evil smirk of superiority. The great Ben 10,000 needed help from the infamous Kevin 11,000, hah! Or explode with a torrent of rage. How dare the man who put him away ask him for help! But neither of those things happened. It was just 'no' and then he hopped into bed like a petulant child.

"You haven't even heard my deal!" Ben argued, sounding more indignant than Devlin had ever heard.

"Tennyson, you've taken away every reason I have to live for. What possible incentive could I have for wanting to help you?"

That was it. That was the question that got Devlin riled. It wasn't so much his refusal to help that bothered Devlin. It was the unfounded self-victimization that really pissed him off. Kevin Levin had crossed the galaxy stealing the powers of eleven-thousand aliens on his quest to obtain the Celestialsapien. He had nearly succeeded in absorbing said Celestialsapiena and would have effectively killed it. He was the monster. He was the villain. He was the predator. How dare he try and play the victim card and claim that Uncle Ben had robbed him of 'every reason he had to live for'. What kind of bantha fodder was that!?

Devlin stormed into the room, making sure to stay out of arms reach of Kevin, lest the villain try and absorb him. "Because its the right thing to do! Because its a chance to make up for the bad things that you've done!"

Kevin rolled back over to glare at Devlin.

"The bad things I've done, huh." He snarled, low and threatening. It made Devlin's skin crawl. "Do you even know what it was I did to land myself in here, kid? Of course not. How could you? You probably weren't even an ache in your mommy's belly when I was thrown in here!"

No. He wasn't an ache in his mother's belly. He had already been born and was several weeks old by the time Kevin was thrown in here. Did he really not recognize him? His own son! People were always saying he looked just like his dad -except he had his mother's eyes. Did Kevin really not see the resemblance between them? Or did he just not care? Devlin pushed those thoughts aside, squishing them down deep where he couldn't feel them anymore. He didn't need his father to recognize him. He just needed the man to help them save his mother. That was all. "I've read-"

"You've read the reports. Sure." Kevin scoffed. "I'm sure by now they must devote an entire class at the Academy to me. You don't know jack or squat!"

Devlin opened his mouth to say more, but Uncle Ben placed a pacifying hand on his shoulder, gently pulling him from the room.

"Why don't you go wait in the ship." He suggested. "It was a bad move on my part to bring you with me."

Devlin looked hurt and was about to protest when he realized that Uncle Ben was actually giving him an out. It sucks that your dad doesn't recognize you. Go back to the ship and feel sorry for yourself for a few minutes instead of saying something that will sabotage our chances of getting him to help us. It made sense, and Devlin could do with a session of undisturbed brooding right about now. He didn't realize just how much he actually _did_ want to meet his father until he was face to face with the man and _he didn't even recognize him_! He was standing right in front of him. _Right in front of him!_ And yet, Kevin didn't see him.

So, Devlin took the offered out. He left. Went back to the ship, and put his head in his hands. It was one thing to know that your father was a bad man. It was another thing entirely to be face to face with said bad man and have him look at you like an insignificant grunt. Like a nobody. Like he wasn't even worth it. Like an insect. Like he was invisible.

Back in the cell, Ben glared at Kevin. He supposed he really couldn't blame the man. After all, the last time he saw his son, Devlin looked nothing like he did now. He didn't even look human back then. More like a random grab-bag of alien parts. It was perfectly understandable that Kevin would have no idea the whole and handsome boy standing in front of him was his son. Still… Ben had hoped the uncanny resemblance would have been enough to clue his old friend -former friend?- in as to who he was.

"I still haven't heard a compelling reason why I should help you." Kevin growled in irritation. As if Ben were keeping him from something important. Yeah. Because sitting in the dark lamenting his own failings was _so_ important.

"How about to save Gwen." Ben deadpanned, loosing his patience. "I can't do it alone and while I'm not exactly without back-up, why settle for the apprentices when I can get a master?" Then, as an afterthought, and maybe to drive a knife in a sore spot and gain a little satisfaction on Devlin's behalf. "Devlin is anxious to rescue his mom and I'm not sure how much longer I can convince him to be patient."

That got him. At the mention of his son's name, Ben suddenly had Kevin's full, complete, and unwavering attention. "How- how is he?"

"Broody. Impatient. Stubborn. He's basically you. If you had Gwen's book-smarts. He's got Gwen's book-smarts." Ben laughed. A true and proper laugh of affection. Because it was true. Devlin was an almost perfect amalgamation of both Kevin and Gwen. He could not even count the times he walked into the hanger, saw Devlin working under Kevin's old car and almost called him by his father's name. Or how often the boy corrected his information, or supplied random trivia just like Gwen. Monstrous form not withstanding, it was like Devlin had gotten all of his parents best qualities and none of their bad. "And he's scared and anxious right now. Gwen's always seemed kinda invincible to him and the fact that she's-"

"I'm in." Kevin was on his feet and halfway to the door before Ben ever realized he'd agreed.

"Wait, what?" The younger man blinked at his former friend, completely thrown off kilter by his about face turn. One moment he didn't want to have anything to do with them, the next he was on his feet heading for the door. Just like old times. Just like nothing had changed. Team Ben off on a mission again. Its hero time!

"I'm helping. Come on, Tennyson. Move your feet!" And without fan fair or incident, Kevin walked out of his cell.

...


	7. Resentments

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Chapter Six: Resentments

The ship was new.

Oh, it was still recognizable as a Rust Bucket. They had painted it the same shade of green after all. But it was a much newer model. What was this one, the Rust Bucket 4, or 5 even? How long had he been stuck in that oubliette? How many Rust Buckets had Ben gone through without him around to fix and maintain them?

This one didn't look to bad, Kevin had to admit as he followed Ben up the ramp and onto the ship proper. Whatever mechanic Ben now employed was doing a fairly decent job of keeping it together. Not quite as polished as his work would have been, Kevin could see the weld marks were panels had been repaired or replaced. But that was just a cosmetic complaint. The work looked secure and well done. Maybe once this was over, Ben could introduce Kevin to his mechanic and the two of them could talk shop for a bit.

Maybe he could even teach Devlin! And Kevin indulged in a momentary fantasy of himself and his son poring over the engine of a car or the exposed wing of the plane, laughing and smiling over a shared interest. Was it a shared influence? Did Devlin even like machines? Or was he all books and magic like his mother?

"We're ready to go." Ben said. "Go ahead and take us out."

Kevin was halfway to the pilot's seat, before he realized that Ben had not been speaking to him but the pony-tailed brat from earlier. The kid sat at the steering column, his head in his hands. The brat straitened at Ben's command and cleared his throat as if trying to dislodge a lump that had formed there.

"Yeah." He croaked.

"Kevin, sit down." Ben chided as he himself took the co-pilot's seat.

The moment was so surreal. He wasn't used to being the passenger. But then again, he hadn't flown in years (was it years? he still didn't know), and he had never flown this model of Rust Bucket before. Kevin sat down in a passenger seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

They flew in silence for a few moments, the boy typing commands in on the console to open a portal between the Null Void and real space. The ship came out over a city Kevin did not recognize. Tall spires climbing up into the sky. A grid of well organized traffic lanes all jammed with flying cars cut between the buildings. Everything looked so clean and state-of-the-art. "What planet are we on?"

Both Ben and the kid turned around to stare at him as if he'd just grown a second head.

"Earth." The brat supplied as if this should have been obvious.

Ben chuckled. "Yeah. A lot's happened since you left. Believe it or not, this is Bellwood."

Kevin could only stare at them. This was Earth? That high tech city was Bellwood? No freaking way! How long was he in there!? "What- what year is it?"

"2033." Ben answered after only a moment's hesitation. "You've been gone for sixteen years."

"Sixteen years!" Kevin echoed. He put a hand to his head. If he weren't already sitting down he was sure he would have fallen over. Sixteen years! Devlin would already be grown up by now! He had missed everything! All the important moments in his son's life. Did he even know how to use his powers? Had there been anyone else to teach him? Kevin swallowed in an effort to work some moisture into his throat that had suddenly gone dry. Sixteen years! "Where's Devlin?"

The pony-tail brat brought the Rust Bucket down in a hanger with a very abrupt and uncomfortable _thunk_ that jolted them in their seats.

Ben was looking at Kevin with an unreadable expression. Something halfway between frustration and pity, with a little exasperation thrown into the mix. What? What was wrong? Where was Devlin?

"Where's Devlin?" Kevin asked again, more forcefully this time. "I need to see my son, do you understand?"

The moment all the landing checks were complete the pony-tailed brat shot up from his seat. He stomped over to Kevin and glared down at him. Verdant green eyes overflowing with a torrent of unreadable emotions. What? Did he say something to upset him? The kid's hands balled into firsts at his sides and his shoulders shook.

"Have you ever considered the possibility that Devlin might not want to see _you_!?" The brat snarled, eyes pleading for Kevin to recognize something. "That maybe you're such a degenerate, insensitive, evil bastard that he doesn't want to have anything to do with you!?"

For a moment, Kevin considered smacking the uppity little punk. How dare he _dare_ to presume to tell him what his son did and didn't want. He bothered Kevin from the first moment he barged into the cell with his high and mighty attitude, making assumptions and passing judgments left and right. Like he knew anything about Kevin or what he did. The brat probably didn't even exist yet! What would he know about Kevin or his struggles? But he held himself back. He wanted to see his son and pounding the crap out of Ben's brat right in front of him was a sure way of getting him sent back to the Null Void -without seeing Devlin.

Instead, Kevin growled, "Why don't you let _Devlin_ decide."

The kid snarled. A deep, throaty, primal, almost inhuman sound of pure, undiluted frustration. For a moment, Kevin wondered if the brat was gonna try and hit him instead. Hmf. As if the kid could even lay a hand on him. But instead, he wheeled around and stomped out of the ship like a little bitch.

"Your kid's got issues, Ben." He said once the brat was gone.

Ben stood up to go after him. "You are such an ass-hole!"

"What?" Kevin shrugged innocently. There were only two people in this world -besides himself- that he cared about -Gwen and Devlin. Why should he give a kriff if he hurt some other brat's feelings. He wasn't here to make friends. He was here to save Gwen, and see his son.

Pausing at top of the ramp, Ben shot Kevin the most venomous look he'd ever seen on the obnoxious heroes face. "_That_ was Devlin, you idiot!"

He stormed out of the ship after the boy.

"Devlin. Devlin, wait!" Ben sprinted after his nephew. "He didn't know it was you."

The boy spun around on his heels so fast his hair nearly whipped Ben in the face.

"I know!" He snapped. "He has no idea who I am. I was standing three feet in front of him and he didn't see me! I'm his son and he didn't even recognize me! But, ya know, its okay. I never wanted anything to do with him in the first place. I don't even know why I'm so bothered by it. I knew he was a bag guy. I have absolutely no reason to feel upset. Ya know what? I'm _not_ upset. I'm _relieved_. I'm relieved that he doesn't know who I am. Its better this way."

With a sigh, Ben wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulders, pulling him into a comforting hug. "Devlin… there's nothing wrong with wanting your father to recognize you." He said into the boy's hair. "And Kevin isn't a bad guy. He's made some bad decision. Some really bad decision. I mean really! But he's not a bad person. And he loves you and your mother very much."

Devlin pulled away. Skepticism written all over his face. "I'll believe that _if_ I see it." He scoffed. "I'm going down stairs to check on Kenny. You should fill Kevin in on what happened to Mom -if he even cares."

The boy turned and walked down the hall to the lift. And Ben had never seen his shoulders slumped lower.

…

Devlin.

That was Devlin!?

But- but he looked so _normal_! Two arms. Two legs. No tail. No wings. Normal eyes. Gwen's eyes! He had Gwen's eyes. His son had Gwen's eyes. Kevin put his face in his hands. How could he have not seen it earlier? The boy looked just like him. The same square jaw. The same high cheekbones. The same strong forehead. The same strait dark hair. If it weren't for the eyes, Devlin would look like a time-displaced version of himself! How could he not have seen it?

Because the last time he saw his son, the boy looked like a miniature monster, that's how. The last time he saw Devlin, he looked like a mutated mish-mash of alien parts, completely unrecognizable as human. And since he failed in his quest to obtain the Celestialsapien's power, he had no reason to think his son might one day be normal. Kevin had every reason to assume that Devlin still looked just as he did when he was born. Hideous. Mutated. A monster. Just like _he_ had been in that form.

How had he reverted to a human form in the first place?

The Devlin that Kevin saw in the cell was handsome, properly formed, perfect. Just like Kevin knew he should to be. He had to be. Any child of Gwen's had to be perfect. It was impossible for anything that came from Gwen to be anything less than spectacular. Was she the one that did it? Did she use her magic to change Devlin into a human? If she did, she was even more amazing than he remembered.

And Devlin was the one that piloted the Rust Bucket. His son was a pilot -just like him. Was he the ship's mechanic too? Was Devlin also a gear-head just like him? How much like him was his son? He was a pilot, he might be a mechanic, he was a Plumber. What else did they share?

Standing from his seat, Kevin sprinted down the ramp into the hanger.

It was a wide, open space, capable of housing multiple vehicles the same size as the Rust Bucket. But, aside from the large spaceship, there were only three other cars. Two he didn't recognize, but assumed that at least one must belong to Ben, possibly both. This was a nice place, who knew how rich he was now. Hero of the universe and all. But the third car… the third car was very familiar to him. Very familiar in deed.

Kevin crossed the hanger to the old black and green muscle car. His ride.

Looking in the window, Kevin saw that someone had reupholstered the back seat, but not the front for some reason. The center console had been replaced, the glove compartment handle was swapped out for a shiny chrome one, he'd put new headliner foam on the ceiling, and there was a new steering wheel cover over the wheel. But that was all cosmetic. Upon popping the hood, Kevin saw that the car was exactly the same. All his modifications and customizations. Some of the moving parts had been obviously replaced, but everything was there and from the looks of it, everything worked. His ride was perfectly maintained.

But by who? Not Ben, that was for sure. Kevin tried to teach him how to take care of his own car, but the man just didn't have a mind for metal or wheels. Gwen could do it. She was certainly smart enough to understand the mechanics of it. But she didn't usually like getting down and dirty under the hood. That left one person: Devlin.

His car had become Devlin's car and the boy was taking good care of it.

Kevin couldn't have been more proud!

But Devlin thought he was a degenerate, insensitive, evil bastard and didn't want to have anything to do with him…

Kevin opened the car door and sat in the driver's seat. Taking comfort in its familiarity, he looked out over the new and unfamiliar city, and wondered what he was going to do.

…

Ben found Kevin in his ride.

Sitting in the drivers seat. His hands resting on the steering wheel. Staring out the open hangar bay at the city beyond. The new and unfamiliar skyline of Bellwood. One could only guess at what he might be thinking.

Ben opened the passenger door and sat down next to him. "Wanna grab a smoothy?"

Kevin shot him a withering look. Somethings never changed.

"My son hates me."

Ben didn't really know what to say to that. It was true that, ever since Devlin started attending school, he seemed to hold a certain level of shame and resentment towards his father. That was no more apparent than when he enrolled in the weekend Academy as 'Tennyson' instead of Levin. But Ben never really believed that animosity was as pure or as vehement as he tried to display. If Devlin really was ashamed of his father, he would not have been as bothered as he was when Kevin failed to recognize him.

"All teenage boys hate their fathers." Ben supplied, as if this were a comfort. "My son thinks I'm to over-protective and I smother him."

Kevin didn't give a flying kriff about Ben's brat. All he cared about was Devlin. A bit of resentment was understandable considering that Kevin was absent from pretty much his whole life. But what the kid said in the cell and on the Rust Bucket didn't seem like garden variety resentment. It wasn't '_where the heck have you been all my life, you dead-beat!?_', no. It was '_you're an evil bastard! Stay the hell away from me!_' The question was, "Why does my son hate me?"

He didn't wait for Ben to answer. Gwen certainly wouldn't raise their son to hate him. Devlin had to be taught to hate from someone else. "What bull-crap have you been filling my boy's head with?"

"Wait, what?" Ben blinked at him. Was Kevin accusing him of brainwashing Devlin against him or something?

Feeling around the steering wheel, Kevin found a small switch concealed behind the button for the hazard lights. Thin bands of an extraterrestrial alloy slithered out from under the seat and clamped around Ben's ankles. They wrapped around his wrists, binding him to the arm-rests, and one band around his head, completely securing him to the passenger seat. So, the kid had kept this modification along with everything else. Good.

"What the hell!?" Ben exclaimed upon suddenly finding himself completely immobile and bound to the seat. More importantly, his hands strapped down so that he couldn't activate the Omnitrix. "The hell kind of feature is this? Why do you have this? Why would Devlin _keep_ this!?"

Kevin reached a hand out his window, just enough to brush his fingertips against the car's exterior. His arm turned green, hard, and metallic up to the elbow and he morphed it into a curved blade. Leaning over the center console, Kevin brought his knife-hand to within millimeters of Ben's face and asked again, "Why does my son hate me?"

Ben's eyes narrowed at his former friend. For the first time since opening the cell door back in Incarceration, he believed Kevin might actually harm him.

"Was it not enough that you thwarted my attempt to help him when he was a baby, condemned me to darkness and isolation, and robbed me of the chance to watch him grow? No. You had to program him to hate me to. Was it part of some contingency plan if I ever escaped? Make Devlin hate me so he'll help you take me down. You know he's probably the only person in the universe I wouldn't kill, so you'd use him as a weapon against me."

The bright green blade brushed lightly against Ben's left temple and he winced at just how warm it was. Sharp and dangerous as any knife, but warm as a human body. It made him shiver in the most unpleasant of ways, made all the more uncomfortable by the restraints. "Not even sort of." Ben tried to assure him. "I try not to talk about you with Devlin unless its something from the '_good ol' days_' when it was just the three of us. You, me, and Gwen. I try to leave the more unpleasant stories for Gwen. Sometimes Grandpa, since he was partners with your dad."

"Gwen wouldn't let my son hate me." Kevin insisted. "Even if she were telling the story of how I tried to absorb her. She'd make him understand."

Making a conscious effort not to be intimidated by the blade resting uncomfortably close to his eye, Ben reminded him, "Ya know, Devlin does have his own mind. And he's smart. He's perfectly capable of drawing his own conclusions of things. And he's got your same power to absorb energy. He'll know how much is actually true and how much is just us trying to embellish things to make you look better. And lets not forget other outside influences like the media, or other kids from school. You did make a big stir during your 'quest', Kevin _11,000_! When Devlin finally got his human body and started going to school, Gwen enrolled him as Devlin Levin. Do you know what middle school kids know about the name 'Levin'?"

"Enlighten me." Kevin growled.

"They know its the name of a bad guy who killed and stole the powers of eleven-thousand aliens all across the universe. Now imagine a gawky and uncoordinated boy who's still getting used to his own body, never mind a new school and new people, and he's got the same name as that eleven-thousand bad guy. What do you think kids will do?"

Kevin didn't say it. Not out loud. But Ben could see it written all over his face. He knew, possibly better than Ben did, just how _cruel_ children really could be. The green blade by his face withdrew, forming back into a human hand again, the green color melting away as Kevin released the matter he absorbed.

"I don't think Devlin hates you." Ben continued. "Not really. He's probably just overcompensating. Trying to _convince himself_ he hates you so that other people won't blame him for the things you've done." He would have offered Kevin a comforting pat on the shoulder except he was strapped down. "Also, he's really pissed you didn't instantly recognize him the moment you saw him."

"How would I know? The last time I saw him he looked like-" Kevin stopped himself abruptly.

So Ben finished the sentence for him. "A monster?"

"I don't like that word."

"Really? Because you seemed to use it plenty in reference to yourself back in the day."

"Not for my son." A pause. Then, "What turned him normal? Did Gwen find a spell finally? Or did you finally get your head out of your ass and use the Omnitrix to heal him?"

"Like I told you sixteen years ago: the Omnitrix can't 'heal' him because there's _nothing wrong_ with him!" Ben huffed in exasperation. "And, no, it wasn't Gwen either. Devlin did it all himself. I told you he was smart. Gwen's been teaching him breathing and meditation since he learned to sit still long enough to listen. When he turned eleven he decided to take those meditation lessons seriously and took a good long look inside himself until he found what it was that was keeping him in that form."

"What was it?" Kevin asked, expecting the answer to somehow come back to being all his fault. It was his fault his son was a mutant. He carried the dormant mutation in his blood. Probably all his mutations lied dormant in his blood. If he were to ever have any more offspring, would they each come out a different mutation of his?

"Gwen's manna." Ben answered flatly. Nothing to do with Kevin at all. It was all Gwen. "The manna he absorbed while she was still carrying him. Devlin's not an Anodite, his body isn't meant to house so much power -especially not at such a young age- so, his Osmosian side responded and processed that power in the only way it could without killing him. It turned him into a form that _could_ house that power. The only form it had written into its genetic template. Your first mutation from the first time you absorbed the Omnitrix. Once he figured that out, all he had to do was expel the execs energy and suddenly he was a real boy."

Kevin leaned back in the driver's seat in amazement. Devlin did it. All by himself. He really _was_ amazing. Gwen's son was truly amazing.

"So, um, wanna let me out of this?" Ben asked, eyes flicking to indicate the restraints still clamped around his body. "Why do you even have this!?"

With a light flick of the concealed switch, Kevin released his former friend and smirked. "It was actually Gwen's idea."

"Never mind. I don't want to know." Whatever kinky stuff they were into should stay between them.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Tennyson!" He snapped. "She wanted a way to be able to transport someone who might be injured. Someone who's injuries make moving their body problematic. The restraints prevent them from being jostles around -especially during a chase."

Ben raised one skeptical eyebrow. He didn't believe him. Knowing Kevin he probably used it more often as an intimidation tool, or an interrogation tool -like just now. Or maybe to restrain untrustworthy buyers or suppliers of his contraband alien tech. He never really did give up his old lifestyle of dealing black-market technology. Not really. But Ben decided to be the bigger man and not press the issue. Instead, he said, "Anyway… I think its about time you got a change of cloths and took a damn shower. You smell like something the dog dragged in and pissed on -times sixteen years!"

Opening the passenger door, Ben climbed out and crossed the hanger to a utility cabinet. From this he pulled out an arisole can, walked back to the car, and then sprayed New Car Scent all over the front seat -that included spraying it all over Kevin.

Kevin had never jumped out of his car faster than he did just then, coughing and hacking from the freshener he inhaled. "How _-hak, hak-_ how can I get Devlin to not hate me anymore?"

"Honestly?" Ben asked, replacing the cap on the spray. "Do not admit to anyone I said this, but I think you two should just fight and get it over with."

Kevin looked horror struck. "I'm not gonna beat-up my son!"

"I didn't say 'beat-up'. I said 'fight'."

…

Kenny had been awake for a few hours already when Devlin walked into his hospital room. Dressed in full Plumber's uniform, and looking like he wanted to cry but wouldn't.

"What happened?" He asked. Did something terrible happen with Aunt Gwendolyn? He remembered hearing her scream and then horrible pain, like he was being pulled in two directions at once. Why was Devlin wearing his uniform? Did he just come from training? Or maybe from rescuing Aunt Gwendolyn? Was it all already over? Did Kenny miss it all? Why did Devlin look like he'd just been punched in the stomach? "Is Aunt Gwendolyn okay? Dev, talk to me. What happened?"

Devlin crossed the room, kicked off his boots and crawled into the bed with Kenny. And suddenly they were eleven and ten years old again, and Kenny found himself comforting Devlin like he always did after being tormented by the bullies at school. With a sigh that had more to do with him trying to find a comfortable way to accommodate both himself and his cousin in the same narrow bed, Kenny wrapped an arm around Devlin. "Tell me what happened."

"He's such a jerk." Devlin sobbed. And there, in the comfort of his cousin's arms, he allowed himself to cry, to let loose the tears he'd been holding in since Kevin failed to recognize him back in the Null Void.

Maybe it was wrong to admit it, but Kenny liked seeing Devlin cry. It made him feel like he was the 'big brother' again. Like he had been back when they were younger. Devlin was a year older than him, but always acted like the younger brother. Hiding behind Kenny, or running to him for comfort or protection against bullies. It made Kenny feel important, powerful, needed. When Devlin enrolled himself in the weekend Academy it was like he was saying he didn't need Kenny anymore. That he was strong enough to take care of himself.

Although he didn't like the fact that Devlin was so upset, it was nice to be needed again.

"Who? Cooper?" Kenny asked. Having missed the past few hours, he had no idea what was going on or what happened while he was out.

"No." Devlin hiccuped. "Kevin. Kevin Levin. He's such a jerk. He didn't even see me! I'm his son. I was standing right in front of him and he didn't see me!"

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What!? Kevin? Kevin Levin? Kevin Ethan Levin? But. But he was stuck in the Null Void. In Incarceration. How had Devlin met him? Why had Devlin met him? DId he escape? Did they have to deal with that now? On top of the thing with Aunt Gwendolyn. Was that it? Did he somehow hear about Aunt Gwendolyn and break out to save her? How did he know? Did Osmosians or Anodites have some sort of psychic connection between mates that he knew when she was in trouble? How did he even get out of the Null Void in the first place? What was going on here!?

"Whoa. What did I miss?"

"It was your dad's idea." Devlin growled. "Apparently, Kevin knows almost as much about alien tech as Cooper, so Uncle Ben thought he might be good back up. We got him out of the Null Void and he doesn't even know who I am!"

"Oh, Dev…" Kenny rubbed circles into Devlin's shoulder -not that he could actually feel it under the armor of his Plumber's uniform.

But that didn't sound right at all. It was true Kenny hadn't even been conceived yet at the time, but as he understood it, the whole reason Kevin went manic and became Kevin 11,000 was because of Devlin. Was _for_ Devlin. To find a way to change him into a human form. There was no way in heck Kevin Levin couldn't know he had a son. That just didn't make any sense. Yeah, Devlin looked a little different now that he was older…

And then it hit him. That was right. Kenny didn't think anything of it because he grew up with Devlin and saw him change back and forth a handful of times. But the last time Kevin saw Devlin, he looked like a creature jigsaw puzzle. He was already in prison by the time Devlin learned to change into his human form. He never would have seen Devlin in his human form. He had no reason to assume the boy he was seeing was his son.

"Did you introduce yourself?" He asked.

"No. But he should have recognized me. People are always telling me I look just like him. He should be smart enough to realize that if a kid around the right age looks exactly like him, then said kid should be his son! I mean, I know he never went to school, but nobody ever said he was _stupid_!"

"Well that's it then." Kenny laughed. "Its not that he's an insensitive ass. Its that he's just stupid."

…


	8. Negotiations

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Chapter Seven: Negotiations

Her back hurt.

Her back and her spine.

And her heart and her stomach.

Like tiny threads, no larger than pin-pricks pulling on her back, spine, heart and stomach.

All the major parts of her body where her manna pooled or pathways it traveled through. He was sucking her power out. Cooper was drawing out her energy and feeding it into his machine. But it didn't feel the same as when Kevin absorbed her manna. Or when she was pregnant and Devlin was absorbing her energy. When they did it, it was steady but sloppy, more like groping around in the dark. It hurt, but it was a dull throbbing.

But this, this was measured and precise.

_Sharp!_

Slow and moderate.

Painfully slow.

It had been going on for hours.

Ever since he somehow managed to pull her out of her own teleportation spell. The thing stuck to her back, right behind where her heart was, slowly fed her manna into his mobile suit.

He had her shackled into the hostage fixture on the MS's chest. Tight restraints clamped around both wrists and ankles, waist, and chest, holding her in place. Putting her out on display like a human trophy, or a living shield. The energy absorption relay sandwiched between her body and the mobiles suit, shielding and concealing it. The only way to destroy the device being to have to go through her heart.

Cooper had put a fair amount of thought into this. But then again, he always was very smart.

Gwen just thought they were better friends than this.

"You realize that by doing this, you're not just throwing away our relationship, but your friendship with Ben and everyone else as well." She said. Glaring at him as he busied himself assembling the final components of his weapon. "There is no way you can justify what you're doing in a way that any of them will understand."

Cooper paused in his work, the pieces he was working with drafting down to rest gently on a work table. He turned to look at her. "Gwen, you should know by now, you're the only one who's opinion I've ever cared about. Everyone else -all those times I ever helped the team, learning from your Grandpa, becoming a Plumber, I did it all for you. To make you notice me. To make you like me. Everything I've ever done. I did it for you. But you could not care less about me. You're to obsessed with _him_. Its always been him. You can't see how much better for you I am because you're always looking at _him_."

"Strapping me down and stealing my manna really isn't winning you any points with me." She growled.

"Yet when Kevin does it you're all over him."

"That is not true and you know it!" Gwen snapped. "The fact that you think so just shows how deluded you really are. Come on, Cooper, we've known each other too long. You don't want to do this."

"Oh, but I do!" He insisted. "I'm going to kill Kevin. And I'm going to do it using you and your power."

…

"Yes? Did you need something?" The nurse asked when he entered young Tennyson's hospital room in response to the call button.

"Yes." Kenny said in all seriousness. Sitting up in bed and interlacing his fingers. "I need to go upstairs and punch a jerk in the face. Can you bring me a hospital gown that doesn't show off my butt?"

The nurse stared at him for a moment, as if waiting for a punchline like this was a joke he just didn't get. When the nurse realized the young Tennyson was being serious, he blinked. "No."

Kenny sighed. "Alright. There's only one thing to do. Devlin, take off your pants, I need to wear them upstairs to punch your dad in the face."

Devlin ignored his cousin and gave the nurse an apologetic look. They all knew Kenny was confined to bed until he was completely recovered. Splintching wasn't pleasant and while -now- it was treatable it still had to be watched for a day or two after the treatment. "Sorry. He's just being over protective. You can go."

When the nurse was gone, Kenny turned to Devlin. "Fine. Then you're going to have to carry me."

With a groan, Devlin stood. Spending time with Kenny always made him feel better. But some times his younger cousin could be such a strange blend of over-protective and immature that it grated on the nerves. "That's cute. I gotta go. Uncle Ben and Kevin will probably wanna strategize about how to spring my mom and I don't wanna miss it."

…

Kevin stared at the shirt and pants Ben left for him. An outfit exactly identical to Ben's own. Academically, Kevin figured he probably just didn't have any other cloths on hand that would fit him. Devlin was just a little to skinny for Kevin to barrow his cloths, and it was unlikely that Gwen had saved any of his old outfits from before he went to prison. So, it fell to Ben to supply something for him to wear.

But like hell was Kevin going to walk out of the bathroom looking like brunette-Ben 10,000!

The shirt was an easy fix. Ripping off the sleeves gave it a wild rebel look as opposed to clean-cut tough guy. It also gave him slightly more freedom of movement in case Ben demanded an explanation for destroying his shirt. The pants gave him a longer moment's pause. Did Kevin really want to borrow another dude's pants? He was sure they were clean. But still… Ben cooties. On the other hand, what was he gonna do? Walk out in a ripped shirt and a towel? Idly, he toyed with the idea.

Then reminded himself that he was an adult and was supposed to be mature about things. Clean cloths were clean cloths. Kevin held the fabric in his hands, taking a moment to absorb enough of the cotton to be able to manipulate the material. He changed it from an army green to a solid black. Satisfied that when he walked out, he and Ben weren't gonna look like twinsies, Kevin ran a hand through his wet hair, trying to comb it out of his face.

He had to find Devlin and talk to him. Make the kid understand that he couldn't possibly have known who he was. He looked so normal. Properly formed. Perfect.

His son was perfect. Gwen's son was perfect.

Gwen…

In all the sudden revelations about Devlin he had momentarily forgotten about his wife. That the whole reason Ben even let him out in the first place was so he could help save her.

Somewhere out there, his wife was in trouble and Kevin didn't even know from what. Why. Or how. She had to be rescued. From what? From who? Darkstar? Again? Kevin shook his head. He swore if that damn blond, pissant, leech had done anything to his wife, he was going to kill him! For real this time! No more letting Ben stay his hand. Or giving in to a sudden bout of pity for the deviant. If Darkstar had Gwen, he was going to kill him this time.

Of course, it could have been Charmcaster. She had always hated Gwen too. To spite the fact that they helped the woman get her entire dimension back. Yeah. She had her own dimension. What would she want to hurt Gwen for?

Unless she teamed up with Darkstar again.

Or maybe it was actually something new.

Ha! Pff. Something new. That was funny. Kevin cracked himself up sometimes. He was gonna kick Darkstar's butt from one end of Bellwood to the other. Get his wife back. And then patch things up with his son. Once that was done, maybe he would pound on Ben for a bit -because it was all his fault Kevin had been absent from Devlin's life all these years!

He exited the bathroom, wet hair sticking to his shirt.

This must be the new Plumber's Headquarters that was still only just under construction when he was sentenced. He'd helped design it. Although, just from his short time-out in the hanger, Kevin could see that they hadn't stuck with all his designs. There were no thermal blast cannons mounted around the exterior. (For defensive purposes only, of course!) They had probably gone with the smaller and more easily concealed short-wave burst lasers. Blah. They were… okay.

Kevin followed the corridor Ben had lead him down earlier. It cut through the residential floor of the base, separating the bedrooms from the common areas of the place. The kitchen, living room, and strategy room. Kevin was pretty sure Ben expected him to go to the strategy room after his shower and was probably already there waiting for him. But there were a few things Kevin wanted to look in on first. (And not all of them had to do with the kind of arsenal the building packed.)

He found Gwen's bedroom.

It wasn't really all that different from their bedroom in the tiny apartment they shared shortly before Devlin was born. A bit bigger, perhaps. And, of course, completely devoid of any of his stuff. There was her Beatles poster right next to one of Humphrey Bogard. The same throw rug next to the bed. The same old, beat-up desk. The child's drawing above her desk was new though and Kevin crossed the room to inspect it. Drawn in crayon, it looked like just a bunch of brightly colored lines and squiggles, but like all children's drawings, every squiggle was meticulously labeled.

A large green and black grouping of vertical lines that just barely failed at being strait was proclaimed to he 'Home' and Kevin assumed that must be the Plumbers' Headquarters. How long after he was put away did they finish construction? On one side of the Headquarters was a very clearly human stick figure with brown hair and a green circle on his wrist Kevin interpreted as the Omnitrix. He would have assumed then that that doodle was Ben, except that it was labeled 'Kin' instead. On the opposite side of the Headquarters from Kin was a large blotch of different colors and it took him several minutes of staring to realize what it was.

The image was to difficult to read up close. But if he pulled back a bit, a face near the top of the color blotch emerged from the chaos of the crayons. A face with one large eye dominating the majority of the upper face and pushing the other eyes to the side. Strings of black hair falling down over said large eyes. A wide mouth with fangs poking out. It was an amazing level of detail compared to everything else in the drawing. Kevin knew it was Devlin without even needed to glance at the label of 'Me' scrawled in black crayon.

And then flying above the rest of the image was a streaking blotch of pink that might have looked like a comet were it not for the purple stick figure inside it. This pink and purple streak was labeled 'Mommy'. Gwen.

Kevin wanted to take the drawing. Pull it from its frame and fold it up in his shirt -close to his heart. But he refrained. Once he reconciled with the boy he wouldn't need to steal tokens and keepsakes. They would have a proper father-son relationship. The relationship they were denied because of Ben's meddling. Oh how Kevin wanted to pound the crap out of him for that!

But at the same time. Ben appeared to have had a big hand in raising his son and seemed to genuinely care about him. At least, that was what it seemed like when he ran after the boy when he stormed out of the Rust Bucket. And he was there when Devlin was having problems with the other kids at school. That was one issue Kevin had to admit he would not have been able to help his son with. Having never really attended school beyond the fifth grade, he didn't really know how to conduct himself in an academic setting. He probably would have recommended Devlin just transform and scare the piss out of them. But something told him that that just wasn't the right kind of advice for a father to give.

So, while Kevin sorely wanted to beat the ten out of Ben, he also really appreciated him being there for his kid when he couldn't be.

Stupid conflicting emotions.

Gwen's desk was surprisingly neat. Completely devoid of paper, which was odd. Kevin was used to seeing her work space covered in multiple books and notepapers in addition to her laptop. To see nothing but a laptop (a much newer model) and a couple of iPads was odd. It wasn't like she stopped being a crazy bookworm all of a sudden. But there was still a stack of book on her bedside table. The one on top was an old and dog-eared copy of something he recognized as being a dramatic romance.

Kevin left the desk and crossed the room to the bed. Picking up the book he opened the front cover to see 'This book belongs to Gwendolyn Eleanor Tennyson' written on the inside cover -just like he remembered. Closing the book, he brought it closer to his face and inhaled the scent of the paper. It even smelled the same and that scent brought back memories of them laying in bed together, him texting a contact about some new parts for his car, or a new shipment of weapons he _shouldn't_ be dealing and what their projected market price was. Her sitting up with a lamp on, focused so intently she didn't even notice what he was doing.

She always looked so focused when she read. He loved it when she looked focused.

Kevin set the book back down on the bedside table. His eyes falling to the bed itself…

He wondered… no. He wouldn't ask.

If Kevin got her back- no, _when_ Kevin got her back from whatever had happened to her, he would not ask if she ever invited another man into her bed. He was gone for sixteen years, the better part of two decades. She was pushing forty and had every right to seek male companionship since her husband obviously couldn't provide it. Kevin would not ask and would just pretend that she remained faithful. He made a conscious effort to. And besides, if he ever did find out some other guy had bedded his wife, he'd just track them down and beat the crap out of them to erase the stain on her honor.

He exited Gwen's room, closing the door behind him.

Across the hall from her's was another bedroom. This one with stickers and signs taped all over it. 'Do Not Enter'. 'Bio-Hazard'. 'Do Not Cross' police tape. The door alone practically screamed '_I'm a vintage-punk teenager's room!_' Curious, Kevin let himself in.

He did not expect what he found.

From the look of the door, Kevin expected Devlin's room to be messy. Maybe magazines or CDs all over the floor (did they still use CDs in the year 2033? okay, maybe not CDs, but something). Posters of punk or metal bands on the walls. Skull motifs everywhere. Black sheets on the bed. And, of course, a closet hanging open with things overflowing from it.

But Kevin found none of these things.

Devlin's room was clean. In place of the band posters he expected to find were instead the Periodic Table of elements, a chakra chart, a map of the earth, a map of known space, and a stylized poster of the Plumber's oath. The bed was made in sheets of a conservative blue -the bed was made! Holy crap, a teenager that made his bed! Somebody call Guinness! There was not a stack of books on his bedside table, but Devlin did have three bookshelves all pack to the point of not needing bookends. His son was a bookworm just like his mother.

Kevin wasn't a very bookish person, but in spite of that, he found himself crossing the room to study their covers and see what his son was into.

The first one gave Kevin a moment's pause. '_The Art of Deception_' by Nicolas Capaldi. That certainly wasn't something he expected to see. And right next to it was '_The Art of War_' by Sun Tzu. Blinking, Kevin dragged a finger across the shelf, reading every title as it passed. '_How to Win Friends and Influence People_' by Dale Carnegie. '_The Anarchist Cookbook'_ Willaim Powell. _'Tactical Edge: Surviving HIgh-Risk'. 'Judgment and Planning in Chess'._

Kevin couldn't figure out if his son wanted to be the most perfect hero ever. Or take over the world.

Really, he could go either way with material like this.

Someone knocked on the doorframe behind him.

Kevin jumped, wheeling around suddenly. Wet hair whipping.

Ben stood in the open doorway. "Since its been a while since you yourself were a teenager and you might not remember it, I'm gonna give you some free advice." He said. "Entering a teenager's room without their permission -especially while there not there to supervise you- really not gonna win you any browny points. Jeez, Kevin, its like you're _trying_ to sabotage your relationship with him or something."

No. That was you when you locked me up and took me away from him. But Kevin didn't say that out loud.

"C'mon. I still need to fill you in on what's happened and Devlin's anxious to move forward and get Gwen back." Ben grabbed his wrist and pulled him out the room and down the hall to the strategy room.

Devlin was already there. Still in his Plumber's uniform. Sitting at the map-table. Reading a book. Of course he would be reading a book. He looked up and marked the page. "What, did you get lost or something?"

"Or something." Ben answered for him.

Kevin didn't exactly know what to say. He couldn't exactly treat this like their first meeting, to spite the fact that he wanted to pretend that whole debacle on the Rust Bucket didn't happen and start over. He crossed the space between them, reaching one hand out to his son. "Devlin, I-"

"Don't touch me!" The kid slapped his hand away before crossing his arms over his chest. "Look, Kevin, I want you to understand one thing, you're here for one reason and one reason _only._ To help us rescue my mom. That's it. I'm not interested in getting to know you, or learning that you're really 'not a bad guy', and I certainly don't want to talk about our _feelings_. You might be my father, but you're not my _dad_. I haven't got a dad and I'm to old to be wanting one now. So we're just gonna keep it strictly business between us. Got it?"

There was a beat of silence.

Then, "You mother also crosses her arms when she lies. Its 'defensive body language'."

Devlin snarled that same wordless snarl as he did on the ship. A deep, guttural, almost inhuman sound and now Kevin understood that it was an echo of his monster form that still lingered to spite Devlin's human shape. Kevin occasionally heard himself make a similar sound when he was angry or frustrated. The kid might have Gwen's book-smarts, but Kevin realized that their son was actually more like him and he just smiled.

"Ugh. Lets just get down to business. I assume Uncle Ben briefed you on the situation." Devlin pressed a button on the map-table and a three-dimensional holo-projection appeared above the table. "Cooper's lab used to be an industrial warehouse before he bought the property and converted into a laboratory-backslash-apartment. Entrances include the main door, a back loading dock, a service door on the side, and of course the roof access.-"

"Question." Kevin interrupted, to Devlin's apparent annoyance. "What does Cooper's lab have to do with any of this?"

Devlin shot his father a look of annoyance before turning to Ben. "I thought you were gonna fill him in?"

"I was going to. But we ended up talking about other stuff instead."

"And you're supposed to be a responsible grown-up." The kid growled with displeasure. His mom was in trouble and Uncle Ben was wasting time talking about 'other stuff' with his old Hero Time buddy. Devlin turned on Kevin, impatience covering up his tension. "Yesterday, I was kidnapped and used as bait to lure my mom into a trap. Ken and I got out, but she was captured. Cooper's got her and he plans to use her in an insane murder plot to kill _you_. I don't think he plans to drain _all _of her manna, but I don't want to wait around and find out."

That… that short explanation was a lot for Kevin to take in. His son had been kidnapped (and he said it so causally too!), his wife was hostage and being drained of manna, and the bad guy was Cooper! Cooper!? Really? No way. Kevin didn't believe it.

Cooper was to quiet and withdrawn. Meek. Plus, he was madly in love with Gwen. Had always been madly in love with her. He practically _lived_ for her. There was no way in hell Cooper would hurt her. They had to be mistaken. Or over looked something. Mind control maybe. Or an impostor. And why would they (if it was mind control, or an impostor), or Cooper (assuming it really was) want him dead?

His skepticism must have shown on his face, because Ben said, "Kevin, this might be hard for you to hear, but Gwen and Cooper have been dating for the past year."

'_Did she ever invite him to her bed!? I'll kill him!_' Screamed one half of his brain, while the other half was plunged into even more confusion. '_Then why would he kidnap her son and harm her?_'

"On Friday he asked her to marry him and she refused." Devlin took up the explanation. Recounting the events as if they were points on a list, with no feeling or inflection. "He blames you for her refusal believing that as long as you're still alive she'll never move on with him."

Gwen refused to move on with a new man because of him. She still loved him. Kevin would be lying if he didn't admit that that made him happy. Even after all these years, she still loved him. His feelings for her had never changed either, but then, he wasn't surrounded by other women and other dating options all the time like she must have been. Even with all the other suitors she might have had as the great sorceress Gwendolyn Tennyson, she still remained constant to him. The knowledge made him swell with pleasure. Gwen still loved him. Forever...

"Pff." Kevin scoffed. "Cooper can't beat me in a fight. Someone as smart as him should know that."

"Unless Gwen is his hostage." Ben reminded him.

"Which brings us back to this." Devlin indicated the seemingly forgotten schematic of Cooper's lab.

Kevin just shook his head. Okay, maybe he was more like his mother in some things. "You're making this harder than it has to be." He said. "Instead of planning a three-man surgical strike, lets just face it head on and give him what he wants: me. Call Cooper. Let him know I'm out and I want my wife back."

"You were never married." Devlin reminded him.

"Technicality." Kevin brushed off the comment. Gwen was his wife, legal papers or lack there of be _damned_. "Better yet, put me on with Cooper. That will throw him. As far as he knows, I'm still in the Null Void."

"That's stupid." Devlin snapped. "You're stupid! As far as he knows, you're still in the Null Void. Why would you want to give up the advantage of surprise by calling him and warning him that you're out? It moronic!"

"Unless…" Ben was thinking out loud. "We use Kevin as bait to draw Cooper out. We know Kevin is who he wants, but he doesn't know that Kevin is out. If he thinks Kevin is still in the Null Void, then he'll use Gwen's manna to rip open a portal and that risks letting others out. But if we let him know that Kevin's here, that's something we don't have to worry about _and_ we can then choose the location and context of the inevitable confrontation."

"Look at you. All grown-up and finally coming up with plans that don't suck." Kevin teased.

Devlin threw his arms up in exasperation. It seemed like they had already decided and it being two against one, he was on the loosing end of the argument. "Fine! Call him! Give up the element of surprise!"

Ben and Kevin exchanged a nod and while Devlin sulked, Ben dialed Cooper's lab.

…

The ringing of the phone was distracting.

The caller ID showed that it was Ben again, so Cooper ignored it.

But it just kept ringing.

"You might as well answer it." Gwen growled. Her voice was softer than it had been a couple of hours ago. The drain of her manna was beginning to show. Her skin was noticeably paler, her verdant green eyes less luminous, her vibrant red-gold hair less bright. Her hands that were previously clenched into fists now hung lip in their restraints. While she might be trying to keep up the strong face as far as her banter went, Gwen was weakening. "He'll just keep calling if you don't. -Or just come over and break through a wall. This is Ben we're talking about here."

And Cooper had to admit she was right. This was Ben they were talking about here. He couldn't afford to have him bursting into his lab as Humongusour and breaking all his stuff. Not to mention, his mobile suit wasn't battle ready just yet, and he needed it to be a its peak to take on Kevin. So, more as an attempt to stall Ben rather than any plans to negotiate, Cooper answered the video call.

But it wasn't Ben on the other end.

The face that appeared on the call screen was paler. Dark haired. Dark eyed. With an X-shaped scar on his chin. "Kevin!"

Cooper was not expecting that.

Kevin sat in the frame, calm and collected. Arms folded over his stomach. Reclining in the chair like he owned the place. Cool as a cucumber. The bastard. What was he even doing calling from Plumber's Headquarters anyway!?

"Hey, Cooper. Long time, no see." He said, as if this was just a social call. "You have something that belongs to me, and I'd like it back."

Suddenly, Cooper's blood was pounding in his ears. He'd forgotten just how scary Kevin really was. But he had the upper hand in this conflict. He had Gwen. Kevin might threaten and intimidate. But when everything was said and done, he wouldn't hurt Cooper if it meant going through Gwen to do it. Reminding himself of that fact, Cooper forced himself to calm down. This was actually a good thing. This meant he didn't have to waste any of Gwen's power ripping into the Null Void. Instead, Kevin had come to him. It was actually better this way!

It was just a bit soon.

"How did you get out of Incarceration?" He asked.

"How do I ever get out of the Null Void?" Kevin shrugged so casually, as if it didn't even matter.

This call was coming from Ben's private phone at the Plumber's Headquarters. Did Ben let him out? Or Devlin? "Your little bastard let you out, didn't he."

Kevin's calm exterior cracked for just a moment. His eyes narrowing dangerously, the corners of his mouth turning down in a frown of such displeasure Cooper thought Kevin might be trying to kill him with just a look. "That is the_ last_ time you get to call my son a bastard!" He growled, low and threatening. Then the calm exterior was back and it was all business again. "Now, lets work out a deal. I want my wife back, and you want to keep both your arms. I think that's a fair trade off."

"You were never married." Cooper reminded him, completely ignoring the sorry attempt at negotiation.

Eyebrow twitch of annoyance. "Because we used to be friends, I'm trying to broker a deal that doesn't end in me pounding the blond right outta you. But if you want this to end in violence and tears, please, push my buttons. I dare you."

"You're bluffing." Cooper said. He knew Kevin was bluffing. He had to be bluffing. "I've got Gwen. You talk a big game, but I know you're really just a big wuss. You won't do anything so long as she's between you and me."

At that, the casual business persona Kevin was projecting fell. He went very, very still, and very, very quiet. Leaning forward and looking directly into the phone's camera, he did not blink once when he spoke. "Cooper, I have been giving you the benefit of the doubt because of the history we have and all the times you've helped me in the past. But I swear to you, if you hurt my wife; if you harm one single strand of hair on her ginger head, this will end with you more than just loosing. You will be lying at my feet, bleeding, unconscious, covered in your own piss and tears. Call me back when you're ready to deal."

And the call ended.

...


	9. Devlin

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Chapter Eight: Devlin

"What the hell was that!?" Devlin demanded. He bolted to his feet the moment Kevin ended the call, his hands balled into fists at his sides, body practically vibrating with anxiety. "Where did you learn to negotiate? Guantanamo? That is _not_ how you talk to a guy holding hostages! You just-! I can't believe-! Arg!"

The kid threw his hands up in frustration. He spun around as if to storm out but paused. After taking a few calming breaths, he began again. "Kevin, at the Academy, they teach two basic strategies for hostage negotiations. The first being to undervalue the hostages and make the perp think that they don't have anything to gain by holding the hostage and that they'd be better off letting them go. The other is to put the perp at easy and talk them down until they agree to let let the hostage go. I'm not familiar with your insult and threaten technique. Care to explain?"

Kevin reclined back in his seat, not in the least bit bothered by Devlin's burst of hysterics. "Yeah. Cooper's not stupid. He knows how much Gwen means to me -excuse me, to all of us- so he won't believe for a second none of us care what happens to her. As for talking him down… That's not gonna happen either. He's been nuts over Gwen since before I was. Now that he's got her, ill-gotten though she may be- he's not gonna just give her up after a little bit of guy-talk. So, what are we left with? Intimidation. I _am_ pretty scary. Maybe I might just rattle him into making a mistake."

"A mistake? A mistake!?" The kid echoed. "Like what? Accidentally killing the hostage!? That's _my mother_ he's got!-"

"And she is _my wife_!" Kevin reminded him, starting to lose his cool.

Ben just looked on. He thought about stepping between them and trying to calm their near identical tempers, but thought better of it. He liked his ribs were they were, thank you very much. Not to mention, he figured that if they continued to push each other, eventually, one would finally provoke the other and they would fight. That was what they really needed. To just duke it out in a no-hold-barred slug-fest. That was the Levin way of resolving conflict. Though Devlin tried to deny it -fiercely tried to deny it- he was a Levin, like his father before him, and violence was in his blood.

"You were never married!" Devlin shot back. "There's no point in getting offended when Cooper only says what's true. _I'm a bastard!_ You never married my mom, so I'm a bastard. I'm _your_ bastard! And pretending otherwise doesn't help anything."

Now Kevin stood. Rising from his chair purposefully. Staring his son down from their hight difference of six inches. "Devlin Eli Levin, if I'm not gonna let anyone else call you a bastard, what makes you think I'll let you do it?"

Devlin's whole body was shaking, practically vibrating with rage. Ben actually started wondering if he was going to spontaneously transform from anger. It didn't happen often, but it had happened in the past. Idly, he debated which was more likely to happen first, Devlin punching Kevin in the face, or Devlin rage-transforming. It was a bit of a coin-toss really. Heads for punch in the face, tails for spontaneous transformation.

"Don't do that." Devlin growled. "Don't you dare do that. You don't get to middle-name me!"

"Why not?" Kevin shot back. "I _gave_ you your name."

That was it. That was the last straw. The hypothetical coin Ben had been flipping in his head landed on heads. A punch to the face.

Devlin stepped forward with his left foot and launched a right-handed, closed fist, punch right at Kevin's nose.

The blow didn't connect, however. At least, not with the man's face. Kevin brought up an arm, catching the kid's fist squarely in the palm of his hand. Kevin closed his fingers around Devlin's hand. He was uncommonly strong for someone who spent the better part of twenty years in a tiny cell. "Not bad." He crooned. "You managed to put a decent amount of force into it without over-extending yourself."

With the hand holding his fist, Kevin pulled Devlin in closer, only to collide the palm of his other hand with the breastplate of the kid's Plumber's uniform. Devlin went flying backwards. Stumbled. Fell on his butt.

But he recovered quickly. Springing back to his feet with a sort of lay-back-and-jump move that was fast and fluid. Once on his feet, Devlin assumed the renoji-dachi stance. Feet at the shoulder width. Front foot fully-frontal (toes facing forward), the rear foot turned 90 degrees out. He waited for Kevin to make the next move.

With a sigh, the older man crossed the space between them. He stopped with less than a hand's span between them. Bending slightly to be on eye-level with his son, Kevin said, "I don't beat-up kids."

And he strode past Devlin as casually as you please.

"I'm starving. Hey, Tennyson, what've you got to eat here? I haven't had a decent meal in sixteen years!"

Darn it! And Ben was so looking forward to them finally working out all their absurd father-son tension with a good old-fashioned slug-fest. It was amazing. It had taken him twenty years, but Kevin Ethan Levin had finally learned self-control. And at the most inconvenient time, too. Darn it all!

"No!" Devlin spun around to shout at his father's retreating back. "Don't you walk away from me! _Don't you dare walk away from me!_ Not again!"

Kevin paused. Curiously, he turned around and raised one confused eyebrow. "'Again'?"

Throwing all his carefully practiced techniques and training to the side, Devlin charged his father. Putting all his force and momentum into barreling one shoulder into the man's mid-section. Knocking the wind out of him, Kevin stumbled backwards. The wall being the only thing keeping him from falling on his backside. With his opponent pinned against the wall, Devlin grabbed a fist full of t-shirt and drew himself up, standing on the tips of his toes to meet his father on eye-level.

Oh. Maybe they would fight after all. Ben stepped back to give them their space.

"You ran away." Devlin snarled. That low, feral sound again.

Pinned to the wall with few options open to him, Kevin brought his face forward in a rough head-butt that sent Devlin staggering backwards. He took advantage of the boy's momentary disorientation to press one hand to the wall. He didn't know what it was, but anything besides dry-wall would do. If his son was determined to pound on him, Kevin would need the armor -because like _hell_ was he going to beat-up his own kid!.

He stepped forward to face Devlin.

"With the exception of a hand-full of strategic retreats, I've never run away from anything in my life." He growled. Certainly, he'd never run away from anything important and definitely not his son. What was the kid talking about and who was it that was filling his head with this utter and complete bull-crap?

Devlin charged him again. Thinking it was going to be another punch or shoulder-battering ram Kevin brought his arms up to block. But at the last minute, the kid stopped short. Dropping to the ground he swung out with one leg to knock Kevin's feet out from under him.

He went down. Throwing one hand out to catch his fall, the other arm raised and morphed into a blunt paddle which he used to swat at Devlin and force him back.

"You ran away from me!" The kid shouted. "I wasn't the perfect, beautiful son you wanted, so you left! But more than that, you did it in a way that made you look like an all-sacrificing hero! So that you wouldn't have to _feel_ like you were leaving! Oh, no. You didn't run away, you were just going off on an impossible quest from which you would never return -one way or another! You practically _abandoned_ Mom and me, but you did it in a way where we could't blame you _and_ you didn't have to_ feel any guilt_!"

Devlin didn't want to try another forward rush. The first two were completely ineffective and Kevin would see it coming now. Instead he circled around to the holo-projector and flipped open its access panel. Reaching a hand in, he found the power couplings. His arm erupted with flames, his fingers elongating into claws as he absorbed energy from the projector. His armor groaned under the strain of a new shape pressing against it as the shift continued up his arm and over his shoulders as he channeled the energy through his body and out the other arm to shoot the raw power at Kevin.

He dove out of the way of the blast, rolling a few paces after he landed to spend his momentum before climbing back to his feet. Kevin glared reproachfully at his son -or rather, was going to glare reproachfully, only he couldn't stand the sight of his suddenly misshapen arms. Claws tearing through the arm-guard on one hand, talons poking through the glove on the other. A bit of crystal jutting up though his Plumber's uniform at the shoulder, the plating on the other arm beginning to melt from being overlaid on an arm that came from Heatblast. It reminded Kevin of everything that was wrong with himself. Of everything he wished his son would never have to be burdened by. But he was burdened by it. Because of what his father was.

Kevin averted his eyes.

"That's not true!" He insisted. "If Tennyson hadn't stopped me- If I had succeeded-"

"You still would have _failed_!" Devlin shouted.

Kevin's little dodge and roll stunt have moved him closer to the kid than he really wanted to be and that fact was driven painfully home when Devlin's Diamond Head-fist collided with his stomach, not only knocking the wind out of him but also threatening to knock him unconscious to boot. It if hadn't been for his armor, Kevin was pretty sure the punch would have done real damage. He fought passing out, however, and staggered until he felt something solid to prop himself up on while he recovered.

"Even if you had succeeded in absorbing a Celestialsapien, you probably would have done _nothing_. Just stood there arguing with yourself -forever!" The kid continued. "Or worse, been so drunk and high off the power that you forgot all about me and just went on another galactic rampage! Neither scenario would have helped me!"

Still recovering from Devlin's last blow, Kevin just barely managed to bring his arm up and morph it into a round shield to block the next blow that came at him.

He did not enjoy taking a beating. But at the same time, he was not going to hit his son. At least, not hit him seriously. The few times he'd already struck Devlin in this fight was just to knock him back and put some distance between them. He was not trying to actually damage an opponent. Kevin risked an assessing glance at the kid, saw only his monstrous mis-matched arms and looked away again. How could he fight back when everything that was wrong with the boy was all his fault anyway. Because of his bad blood. Maybe he deserved this beating. It was a long time coming.

Maybe he deserved the beating, and maybe he was prepared to take it. But there was one thing Kevin wasn't going to take and that was being told he didn't care about his son!

"Well then what was I supposed to do?" He shouted back, alternating between blocking and dodging blows. "Nothing? Like everyone else? You're mother couldn't fix you with her magic! Ben _refused_ to fix you with his Omnitrix!"

"Did you ever consider that maybe there wasn't anything to fix in the first place!?" Devlin screamed as the breastplate of his uniform strained, split, and broke. His ribcage expanding, two extra arms popping out of his sides, wings springing from his back, a tail ripping from the back of his pants. His boots ripped and burst as his feet expanded and changed shape.

If Kevin was evading looking at his son before, he was avoiding it complexity now. Now that he was fully transformed. All grown up and in the same horrible shape he had been born into. "I'm sorry, Devlin." He whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"Look at me." Devlin demanded. "I have this form because of you, the least you can do is _look at me_, damn it!"

With a conscious effort, Kevin met his son's mis-matched eyes.

An uncomfortable silence settled between them.

It lasted for one… two… three beats.

Kevin never wanted this for his son. Not this form or any of his other mutations. It was a reminder of every terrible thing he did in his past that he regretted. Years wasted as an enemy. Years wasted in the Null Void. Times he'd hurt friends. Times he'd _absorbed_ friends. The time he tried to absorb Gwen. Times when he really was a monster. Not just in appearance, but action as well. He never wanted that for his child. Never for his child.

"I spent the first decade of my life like this." He said. "Mom didn't let me go to school with Kenny. I didn't have any friends outside the family. The only time I got to leave the house and actually be a kid was one night out of the year. Can you guess what night that was? Halloween! But, ya know what, I got over it! I took all the meditation and self-awareness crap Mom was trying to teach me and I used it to fix myself! And then I realized something. All those years I spent at home, hiding whenever Kenny had friends over, and passing my time reading in my room alone, it would have been great if _my dad_ were there with me! My dad who I got this shape from in the first place."

Kevin felt like he'd been punched in the stomach again, and Devlin hadn't even lifted a single sharpened finger. He hung his head in shame.

"Who knows, maybe I would have even figured out how to change back and forth sooner if _my dad_ had been there to train me." he continued. "Osmosian to Osmosian. But no! I didn't get that because you had to run away! Instead of maning-up and sticking around -_look at me when I'm talking to you!"_

Kevin once again had to force himself to look at the kid.

"Nobody asked you to go off on your stupid quest." He muttered, voice hoarse from all the shouting he'd been doing. "I never wanted to you go off on your stupid quest. I wanted you to stay. A soon as I was old enough to understand why you didn't live with us, I wished you'd never left. I wanted a dad."

"Devlin…" Kevin crossed the space between them and wrapped his arms around the kid's hulking form. Hugging his son for the first time in sixteen years. "I'm sorry for all the time we lost. But I'm here now."

But Devlin pushed him away. "No. You're not." He snapped. "You're here to help Uncle Ben and I rescue Mom, and that's it! Because I know the full story, and I know you belong in the Null Void. Because you tried to absorb a baby. You're a child-killer, Kevin. That makes you the worst kind of evil. So, after this is all said and done. After Mom's home safe and Cooper's been arrested, I am going to _personally_ see to it that you get put back in the Null Void with the scum of the universe. _Where you belong_."

The kid stormed out.

Silence fell.

Kevin stood unmoving.

Ben didn't really know what to say. He had thought that a fight would let them work everything out. But it seemed to have the exact opposite effect.

After a prolonged pause, Kevin sighed. Remembering that he was still wearing the armor he'd absorbed from the wall, he released the matter, the glossy steel melting from his skin. He glanced at Ben once, his expression completely unreadable, before exiting the room. And Ben had never seen Kevin's shoulders hung so low.

…

Not enjoying being kept out of the action one bit and wanting to know what exactly was going on -Kevin 11,000 out and about! his dad the one who let him out!- Kenny was determined to get out of his hospital bed, off the medical floor, and back upstairs. Since no one would give him a hospital gown that wasn't open in the back, or a pair of pants, he was left to improvise on his own.

Reaching for his faux-Omnitrix, Kenny selected the very first alien that appeared and pressed down on the watch face. He transformed into Four Arms and, still feeling a bit sore, climbed out of bed. He then went in search of some crutches. Because his faux-Omnitrix always timed out far to quickly and he knew that wen he returned to normal -though he would be returned to the original outfit he was wearing when he first activated the Omnitrix- he wouldn't have his alien's strength to hold himself up and would need the help walking.

He grabbed a pair of crutches that was leaning against the wall. Right next to someone whom was sitting in a chair with a cast on their leg. Kenny felt genuinely guilty about it, really, he did. But desperate times called for desperate measures. Kevin 11,000 was out! And he made Devlin cry. _No one_ was allowed to make _his_ Devlin cry!

Kenny was in the lift -ignoring the shouts for him give back what he stole- when his faux-Omnitrix finally timed out. He shifted back to human form, no longer wearing his backless hospital gown, but instead the same cargo-pants and white t-shirt he was wearing when his dad first gave him the Omnitrix. And -oh my gosh!- did he feel nauseous and dizzy! The crutches helped prop him up, but Kenny was suddenly reminded that he was still recovering from being splintched and really should not be out of bed.

The motion of the elevator didn't help much either.

He took a few deep breaths, trying to steady himself and fight off the nausea and dizziness.

When the elevator doors finally opened again, Kenny staggered out, unsteady on his crutches. He hobbled down the corridor, past the kitchen where he saw his dad pulling two beers out of the 'fridge.

"Where is he, dad?" Kenny demanded, hobbling into the kitchen to get between his father and a plate holding two sandwiches.

Ben blinked at suddenly seeing his son out of bed and on his feet. The fact that the last time he visited Kenny, the boy was unconscious and didn't look like he'd be waking up anytime soon aside. But Kenny was still a minor and the hospital should have called him down for his signature. He was only four floors up, after all, and they couldn't discharge Kenny without a parent signature. -Which could only mean that Kenny had let himself out. Great. Ben had the sudden premonition that he was going to be getting an angry call in a few minutes.

"Devlin is probably meditating to bring himself back outta his transformation right now." Ben answered, glaring at his son. "I wouldn't recommend bothering him right now. He's pretty upset. I gotta take this to someone real quick, and then you and I are gonna have a chat about what you're doing up here and where you got those crutches."

Kenny looked at the two beers in his father's hand as if finally registering them for the first time. Two beers and two sandwiches. Devlin was too young to be drinking beer, that meant his dad could only be taking them to one other person. Kevin 11,000. "Are those for Kevin? Where is he? He made Devlin cry."

"He did a bit more than that." Did Dad chuckle? Did he think it was funny? "But I want you to steer clear of Kevin right now. He's not feeling too nice either and I don't want you bothering him." Ben nudged his son out of the way.

Kenny was about to follow his dad out the kitchen. Let him lead him to wherever Kevin 11,000 was so that he could punch him in the nose. But he changed his mind mid-step. Dad said Kevin did more than make Devlin cry. Did he hurt him? Was Devlin okay? Dad also said he was trying to bring himself down from a transformation. Did Kevin force him to transform. Goad him into a fight, or threaten him until he was so panicked that his body just reacted automatically? Kenny decided he could punch Kevin in the face later. Right now, he wanted to make sure Devlin was okay more than he wanted to break his fist on someone's face.

It was slow goings, hobbling through the halls on his stolen crutches. But Kenny eventually found his cousin sitting in the gym.

He was on the floor in the center of the room. Sitting in the lotus position. Knees folded, leg crossed, back strait, arms resting at his sides (all four of them). He was trying to bring himself out of the transformation and return to human form through meditation. That was usually how he did it, but if the knit between where his eyebrows should have been was any indication, Devlin was nowhere near achieving a state of meditation. Not even sort of.

Kenny limped into the room and sat down next to his consign. Happy to no longer be so high off the ground anymore. He leaned most of his weight against the older -and momentarily much, much larger- boy.

Devlin cracked one misshapen eye. "They let you out?"

"Yup." Kenny sighed.

"Liar." Devlin chided.

Devlin's shoulder was hard and uncomfortable to lean on, but the diamond was cool agains this skin and eased his headache. Kenny always did like Devlin more when he was in this form. The fact that he looked super sick and wicked aside, Devlin always just seemed more himself in this form. He cried harder, laughed louder, farted freely, and was just generally more himself. When he was human he was just to stiff. Always trying to look cool and be cool. Keeping his feelings in check. Not show when things bothered him. Smooth operator. But also trying to be the best at everything he did and that made him almost constantly tense.

In his monstrous form, no one had any expectations of him, so Devlin could relax and just be Devlin.

"Its so boring down there." Kenny complained. "Read me a story."

Devlin huffed. Coming from his larger, deeper lungs it sounded like half a growl. "Sometimes, I swear, its like you're still ten years old."

"I am not!" Kenny whined. "Will you read me the third _Harry Potter_?"

With a groan, Devlin climbed to his feet. Using two arms to help Kenny to his feet, the boys made their way out of the gym. With a yawn, Devlin said, "Ya know, I'm pretty tired. I don't think I've actually slept at all since you and Mom rescued me from Cooper."

"Then do you wanna take a nap instead? I'll keep watch to make sure Kevin doesn't hurt you while you're sleeping." Kenny offered. As if he was in any kind of condition to actually do something against an opponent of Kevin 11,000's level. But he liked protecting Devlin. He liked it when Devlin needed him and relied on him. Ben might try to sabotage his attempts at heroism. Limiting the number of aliens in his faux-Omnitrix, setting the Omnitrix to time out sooner than it should, refusing to allow him to go on missions, etc. But he was never hindered when it came to Devlin. For Devlin, Kenny could be a hero.

At the very idea of Kenny going up against Kevin, Devlin let out a laugh. "You wouldn't stand a chance. I just threw everything I had at him. My physical strength and some energy manipulation and he just took it. Like it didn't bother him in the least. I don't think I would want to go up against him if he were fighting for real."

They were at Devlin's room now. The door was wide open and Devlin was pretty sure he closed it behind him the last time he'd left.

"You fought him?" Kenny's eyes went wide. His had did say Kevin did more than make Devlin cry. Did he hurt him? What was it like going up against a legend like Kevin 11,000? Hobbling over to the bed, Kenny took off his shoes and crawled under Devlin's blue-on-blue sheets and waited for his cousin to tell him the tale.

"I attacked him." Devlin replied. He reached up to the top shelf of the far left bookshelf and pulled down '_Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_'. He stripped off his broken and ruined Plumber's armor and crawled into bed next to his cousin. Opening the book, Devlin began. "_Chapter one, Owl Post_. _Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in manny ways. For one thing, he hated-_"

"Skip to the part where they find out Ron's rat was really the bad guy." Kenny demanded, hugging a pillow.

With a guttural sigh, Devlin flipped to almost near the end of the book and began again. "Okay… _Chapter Eighteen, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. It took a few seconds for the absurdity of this statement to sink in. Then Ron voiced what Harry was thinking. 'You're both mental!'_"

They read together for about thirty minutes before Devlin calmed down enough to shift back into human form, pausing only slightly to note that he was no longer a monster but a real boy again. He hooked his long unbound hair bend his ear as Kenny cuddled closer to him. Devlin wasn't as cool as a human as he was as a monster, but he was softer, warmer, and easier to use as a human pillow. A few minutes after that, Devlin was skipping over words and slurring sentences. Then he was fast asleep. The book still in his hands.

Kenny maneuvered his way out of bed, regretting the movement for the dizziness it caused.

But he still couldn't help feeling proud of himself. Devlin was alright. Back in the shape he preferred. And getting the much needed sleep he was denied since Sunday. Kenny smiled to himself. Was he good, or was he good. No one was better at taking care of Devlin than he was. He pulled the book from his cousin's hands and replaced it on the shelf before returning to the bed to pull the blankets up and tucking them under Devlin's chin. He was so cute when he was sleeping.

He was about to leave when he turned to the doorway and saw his dad standing in it, a second, darker figure behind him.

Kenny had seen pictures of Kevin Levin before. News clips chronicling his rampage featured a candid shot of him shouting something, mouth slightly open, eyes sharp but wild, hair a tangled mess surrounding his face. His dad had a photo of the whole team on his desk. Him, Aunt Gwendolyn, Julie, Kai, Cooper, Great-Grandpa Max and Kevin, all posing, smiling and looking happy. The Kevin in that photo looked nothing like the Kevin from the news still one. And neither of them looked like the Kevin that now stood lurking in Devlin's doorway.

Leaning against the door frame. Arms crossed over his chest. Long hair tumbling down his back, unbound, wild, and free. Dressed in all black. The sleeves ripped off his shirt. He looked like a strange blend of calm but deadly predator, and wild free-willed rebel. Kenny wasn't really quite sure what to make of him. He certainly didn't look like the vile villain he'd always imagined.

That being said, he still placed himself between them and Devlin. "He hasn't got any sleep since Sunday. What do you want?"

Kevin remained silent. He was hanging back. Lurking in the doorway, not coming into the room properly. Almost like he was afraid of invading Devlin's territory. Dad on the other hand had no such reservations. "Let him sleep. When he wakes up, tell him Cooper called and we're going to meet with him and get Gwen back."

They left.

…

Kevin was sitting right where he left him when Ben returned with sandwiches and beer. On the couch. Scrolling through the albums of family photos displayed on their digital photo-frames. Catching up on everything he missed. Birthdays. Skinned knees. Changing forms. School events. Earning belts. Enrolling in the weekend Academy. Kevin scrolled through each one, pausing every now and again.

Ben set the plate and one beer in front of his former friend.

"Can I assume the looser in this picture is your kid?" Kevin held up an image of Devlin and Kenny roughhousing. Devlin had Kenny pinned belly to the ground, one arm twisted behind his back while Kenny beat the floor with his free hand.

Ben remembered that day. If the image had any audio to it, Devlin would be saying, '_The prequels don't exist! Just like the holiday special. Say it!_' while Kenny would punch the ground with his fist and say, '_Anakin killed kids! It happened. Just accept it_!' Without meaning to, Ben laughed at the memory. The boys rolling around on the floor. Gwen sighing with resignation that the family couldn't sit through a single movie without something happening. Kai jumping up to get a camera -because pre-teen violence was adorable, apparently. It did make a nice candid shot, though.

"Yes. That's my boy on the ground right there. I'm so proud of him." And Ben was reminded of just why he didn't really want Kenny following in his footsteps. If he couldn't even best Devlin in a strait-up match when neither of them used any powers, how was he going to survive out in the real world with bad guys that did not handicap themselves because their opponent was a kid?

"Hn." Kevin continued scrolling. He did not ask what they were fighting about. It was enough to know that his boy was the winner.

They sat in silence for a while. To spite mentioning how hungry he was earlier, Kevin didn't touch the sandwiches. So, Ben reached over and grabbed his. No sense in letting good food go to waste if the person it was intended for was to sad to eat. "He didn't mean it, ya know." Ben said through a mouthful of ham and cheese. "What Devlin said about sending you back to the Null Void. He didn't mean it."

"Yes he did." Kevin set the digital frame down.

"No. He didn't." Ben insisted. "Look, this might hurt to hear, but I know your son a lot better than you do. He's always been curious about you, but the rest of the world has him convinced that you're the most evil thing since the invention of evil. He's spent the good majority of his teen and pre-teen life trying to convince himself that he hates you because everyone else says he should. But now you're here and he gets to see that you're not really evil, your just a victim of circumstances and your own bad decisions. Basically, you're a _person_. Just like him. And he's having trouble reconciling those two conflicting images of you in his mind."

Ben paused just long enough to take another bite of the sandwich and a sip of beer. Gosh! He hadn't sat on the couch and had beer and sandwiches with Kevin since- -well, since the thing happened.

Kevin meanwhile reached for his own beer. He needed a drink.

"On top of all that," Ben continued, "is all this stress over Gwen and Cooper. His mother's been kidnapped by a person we all thought was our friend and is being used as a hostage to kill the very person he's so conflicted about. That's a huge strain to put on anyone, never mind an inexperienced, emotionally fragile, and sensitive teenaged boy! There's so much going on right now, Devlin probably doesn't even know what he's really feeling and is just lashing out how he thinks he's supposed to act around the infamous Kevin 11,000."

Kevin wasn't sure if he believed all that or not. It made sense. But it also felt like Ben was just trying to make him feel better. He reached for the second sandwich. "When did you suddenly become a psychologist?"

"Oh, somewhere around my second divorce, I think." Ben shrugged so casually.

Hold on! Back the kriff up! Second divorce? Second? As in Benjamin Kirby Tennyson had been married, not once, but twice and had failed both marriages. Jeez. He really _couldn't _hold onto a woman, could he. Yet Kevin and Gwen still remained faithful to one another through distance and tragedy. Tribulations and separations. Hm. He won. He and Gwen won.

Kevin was about to comment on the whole divorce thing when the phone rang and both men froze.

This was it.

Cooper was calling back with the terms of his surrender.

Ben stood to answer the phone.

It was not Cooper. It was the downstairs infirmary calling to inform the great Ben 10,000 that his son had fled the ward, not even bothered to try and check himself out (which he would not have been allowed to do anyway), _and_ stole a pair of crutches from another patient. Ben pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to stave off a headache and promised he'd take care of it. The call ended.

He flopped back down on the couch and downed his remaining beer.

"My kid ever give you problems like that?" Kevin asked. Half genuinely curious, half because he wanted to lord the fact that his kid was better than Ben's over his head.

"No. I save problems like that for Gwen to deal with." Ben shook his head. "Although, it is annoying when Kenny gets himself involved in Devlin's problems. Like when Devlin started middle school. Gwen wanted to enroll him in that same prep-school she went to, but Kenny and Devlin wanted to go to school together so they pestered her until she gave in. Well, Devlin was in school less than a week before he started getting bullied. But he didn't tell any of us. Oh, no. Goodness forbid he trust a grown-up…"

Kevin smirked. "Kid wanted to take care of it himself, huh. He's a chip off the old block."

"No. He was afraid Gwen would pull him out of school and he'd be back to being stuck at home all day. So, he just put up with the abuse." Ben groaned at the memory. "Gwen and I had no idea what was going on until I got a call from the school because my son was using the Omnitrix _I gave him_ to beat up other kids. I was so beside myself with anger I didn't even think to ask _why_ Kenny was abusing the power I gave him. It was Gwen who actually sat down with him and found out that he was just trying to protect Devlin."

Kevin didn't know how he felt about that. On the one hand it was nice that Devlin had someone to back him up and was useful in a fight. Even if that person was Benji's spawn. On the other hand, he was a bit disappointed that his son couldn't beat up his own bullies. It wasn't like Devlin was helpless. Even at such a young age, he would still have all his powers. But then again, using his powers on other kids didn't really sound like something Gwen would approve of. If Devlin had transformed and beat them up, or absorbed their energy until they passed out, Gwen would _definitely_ have taken him out of school.

Looking at it that way made Kevin feel a bit better. His kid didn't need protection because he was to weak to take care of himself. He needed it because he was too _strong_. Looking at it from that angle, Kevin was glad Devlin had a partner he could rely on. Strong men always did need equally strong men to follow them.

"Sometimes I think Kenny worries about Devlin too much, though. He hasn't had problems with his peers in a while." Ben continued. "But when Devlin enrolled in the weekend Academy, Kenny went and signed up the very next day."

"What is this Academy I keep hearing so much about?" Kevin cut in. He didn't really care all that much about Tennyson's brat. He wanted to know more about Devlin and this weekend Academy was something he mentioned before. "We got all our Plumbers' training done in one weekend. Why does Devlin have to attend extended lessons at an Academy?"

Ben paused. Sighed. "Kevin, they had to change a lot of regulations because of you. Now cadets have to be of the age of majority for their race or planet -in Devlin's case that's eighteen. Before a cadet can attend the official Academy they have to take prep-courses at their planet's local Plumber's institution -that would be the weekend Academy. Once at the official Academy at Galvan they have to attend training for two years. Oh! And, every year before advancing to the next level, all cadets have to take a psychological exam."

Jeez. And Devlin was willing to put up with all that to be a Plumber?

"Why does he wanna be a Plumber so badly?"

"Because of you." Ben answered simply. And Kevin was about to feel proud until Ben followed that up with, "He wants to prove to the universe that he's not as crazy and homicidal as you are."

Kevin was about to ask more, but the phone rang again.

This time it _was_ Cooper. He was ready to meet.

He named the place and time.

They agreed.

The call ended.

"Of course, you know its a trap." Ben commented, casual as you please.

"'Course its a trap." Kevin scoffed. "The fact that he's the one setting it up aside, we already know he wants me dead. But you know what we do with traps, Tennyson."

"Spring them."

"We spring them." Kevin nodded. He finished off the last of his beer and inhaled his sandwich.

Ben left the room. "I'm gonna see if Devlin's ready."

Kevin hesitated, unsure if the kid would want to see him again so soon after their little skirmish -or at all, considering the things he said. But he followed Ben anyway, just being sure to hang back, give the kid his space and all that.

They found Devlin in his room, fast asleep and being tucked in by Kenny. Kevin recognized him instantly from the family photos. Looking even more like Ben than Devlin looked like Kevin, but a couple decades younger, with a different Omnitrix on his wrist.

Upon seeing them, Kenny placed himself between them and his sleeping cousin. Stance a bit weak, but eyes clear and defiant. Kevin had the feeling he was seeing the devoted-protector side of the brat that Ben had just been telling him about. The side of the kid that wasn't shy about using his Omnitrix to beat sense into other snot-nosed brats. Kevin instantly approved. Ben's kid was way less of a goodie-goodie than Ben was.

"He hasn't got any sleep since Sunday. What do you want?" Eyes focused more on Kevin than on Ben.

Kevin hung back. Devlin definitely needed rest and the last thing he wanted was to wake the kid up and get into another shouting match. He was sure Devlin would want to come along and help them rescue his mother. But at the same time, it would be dangerous and if he wasn't at his one hundred percent peak performance, then Kevin didn't want him there. He could get hurt. But after the things Devlin said, how did Kevin explain that to the kid without giving him the wrong idea and making him think Kevin didn't want him there because Kevin didn't want him?

Thankfully, Ben took care of that problem for him. "Let him sleep. When he wakes up, tell him Cooper called and we're going to meet with him and get Gwen back."

...


	10. Final Battle

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Chapter Nine: Final Battle

Gwen was drifting in and out now. Swaying between the blissful obliviousness of unconsciousness and the cold hard truth of waking.

She was still strapped into Cooper's mobile suit. But the energy relay on her back wasn't absorbing her energy anymore. The power batteries were full. Cooper was ready to go, and he was leaving her there as insurance that Kevin wouldn't fight back. He would not go through his wife to get at his enemy. Of that fact, all of them were sure.

Vaguely, she was aware of Cooper still moving about the lab. She heard the dial tone of a video call, a ringing, and then Ben's voice answering. Ben, not Kevin.

It was hard to focus. But Gwen thought she heard the words 'Los Soledad', and 'midnight'.

That was when Cooper finally climbed into the cockpit of his mobile suit and Gwen felt movement. The mammoth robot armor stood, pulling her up with it and she suddenly felt much, much heavier than she was used to. Handing from her restraints. Almost all of her weight dangling from her wrists, not nearly enough of it being supported from the ankle or waist restraints.

Tears stung the corners of her eyes. The pain in her wrists driving home a truth she was already painfully aware of. She had been betrayed by one lover and was about to lose a second one all over again.

…

It felt good to be piloting the Rust Bucket again.

Oh sure, it was a different Rust Bucket and the controls were slightly different. The seat had to be adjusted before Kevin could sit down, Devlin was just a bit shorter than him. The steering column was a bit more sensitive than he was used to. And it looked like it ran off a different fuel than before. But as soon as he sat down, Kevin felt like he'd never left. Like he was where he was always meant to be. Behind the controls of a fast, furious, and sexy mechanical monstrosity.

"Carful. Some of the controls are different." Ben warned.

"I know how to fly a plane, Tennyson!" Kevin snapped.

With the attention of a lover coaxing his partner's interest, Kevin ran though all the pre-flight checks. Wing flaps. Fuel. Cabin pressure. Altimeter. Etc. When he was sure everything was exactly as it should be, he started taxying towards the open hanger, picking up speed until they shot out of the open bay door. It was also a bit faster than he remembered. But that was nice. Not only would it get them to Los Soledad -and Gwen- faster, but fast was just how Kevin liked his rides even when someone's life wasn't in the balance. Hot and fast. That was how he liked his vehicles. Which was also how he liked his coffee and his pizza.

"Alright. You still know how to fly a place." Ben reclined in his seat. Calm and easy. Like the good ol' days.

Earth might have changed a lot during Kevin's incarceration. Bellwood might have changed a lot. But Los Soledad looked exactly the same. Old and abandoned. Perhaps a bit more beat-up and dilapidated than he remembered, but then, it had been sixteen years since he saw it last. How many monster fights had Ben, or Gwen, or even Devlin and Ben's brat settled here? Considering that, Kevin was actually impressed the place was still standing. It being their go-to place for keeping the fights away from populated city-centers.

He brought the Rust Bucket down on what had once been the base's air strip.

Exiting the ship, Ben asked, "So, on a scale of one to 'aw crap' how easy do you think it'll be to find Cooper."

"Well, he probably saw the Rust Bucket land, _and_ he wants to kill me, so I'm gonna go with-" Kevin's statement was cut off abruptly when a beam of magenta-sapphire manna streaked across the night sky and hit the Rust Bucket squarely in the cockpit. Bits of debris went flying everywhere, including Kevin's red toolbox which landed inexplicably but conveniently close to him. If Ben and Kevin had still been inside, they would have been instantly killed. As it was, only the ship was damaged and rendered completely inoperable. "_Aw crap!_"

Both Ben and Kevin turned to follow the blast's trajectory and saw what looked like a large robot flying towards them. Neither of them had actually seen the mobile suit Devlin said Cooper had built. They had fought robots and mobile armors before so neither really thought much of it. Just another bad-guy-toy they had to break. But as it came closer and they were able to see more detail, they realized why it would be such a threat. Leave it to Cooper to come up with a weapon that was an adequate challenge for both of them.

To spite its size. the mobile suite wasn't bulky. Its limbs were proportionate to that of a fit humans and looked to be just as articulate. The armor appeared to be some version of titanium, but it was hard to tell from looking as Cooper had taken the time to paint it blue, white, and yellow. For weapons, they had already witnessed that the mobile suit was just as capable of using Gwen's manna as she was, but Kevin also noted a thermal blast cannons mounted on one shoulder, two short-wave burst lasers fitted into holster on the thighs which the robot arms could easily grab and wield as easily as a person wielding any gun, and a giant-robot sized kabar blade slid into a concealed holster on the right calf (Cooper hadn't done a very good job concealing it).

But the most disturbing feature of his mobile suit wasn't its armor, its bright almost cheery paint job, or its weapons. No. The thing that made both men freeze with horror was what was mounted on the chest plate._ Who_ was mounted on the chest plate.

Out in the open and completely exposed. Hanging spread-eagle like some grotesque trophy. Like the head of a deer on the hood of a red-neck's pickup truck, was Gwen.

"_Gwen!_" Both men exclaimed in shocked horror.

And hearing her name, hearing her name being called by what sounded like Kevin's voice, Gwen forced her eyes open. Her vision was blurry and the darkness of the night did nothing to help that, but she distinctly saw a figure with graying hair on the temples and a glowing green watch -Ben. And right beside him, black against the darkness of the night was another figure. Lean and muscular. Dark haired. If she had the strength to, she would have reached out to sense his manna and confirm what her heart was already telling her.

"_Kevin…_" She whispered, more to herself than to him. It was so hard to focus. She let her eyes fall closed again as her head dipped. Bits of her skin began to flake off, like dust. Patches of indigo Anodite skin showing through. The mobile suit was still draining her manna and it made it difficult to maintain her form.

"Hang on, Baby!" Kevin called to her, realizing just how desperate the situation really was. "I'm coming for you!"

He dove for his burn and broken toolbox, his hand falling on the fragment of Taydenite -the hardest substance in the universe. He didn't care what kind of armor Cooper had, nothing could stop Taydenite. He was going to rip that thing limb from limb and rescue his wife. And once that was done, when Gwen was safe in his arms and the robot had been subdued, Kevin was going to beat Cooper into the ground!

Ben toggled through his watch until he found Echo Echo and slammed his hand down on the Omnitrix to transform. He spread himself out, surrounding the mobile suit with his multiple duplicates. And let loose a sonic attack.

Or rather, he tried to. Except the moment the Echo Echoes opened their mouths, Kevin smacked the two in front. "_The frig do you think you're doing!?_" He snarled. "You'll hit Gwen!"

And there in laid the genius behind the sadism. So long as Cooper had Gwen on his chest, neither of them could risk any frontal attacks.

"Go for the joints, idiot!" Kevin commanded.

He morphed one arm into a long, strait blade and charged at the mobile suit's left foot. He slashed at it. But Cooper dodged, lifting the robot foot out of the way only to try and bring it down again on top of Kevin's head. He jumped out of the way and tried slashing again. The Taydenite blade-hand made a deep gash in the armor of the suit. Of course it would, nothing in the universe was harder than Taydenite. But that was all it did. A gash in the armor. None of the innards were damaged. The armor was just a hair's breath to thick.

"Alright then, fine." Ben switched from Echo Echo to Swampfire. He dropped several seeds from his hands that burrowed into the ground. A few moments later, large vines burst from the ground, coiling themselves around the mobile suit's legs. A second set of vines climbing up to hold its arms and keep it from falling over and crushing Gwen. The mobile suit was immobilized.

"Nice job, Tennyson!" Kevin smiled. Sometimes they worked so well together.

Kevin climbed up the vines, making his way to the chest plate where Gwen was displayed. Arm raised. Taydenite blade ready to cut her free of her bonds. Kevin brought his hand down.

Only to have the blade collide with a magenta manna shield.

It wasn't Gwen's doing. She still hung unconscious. It was Cooper channeling the manna he'd stolen from her. That pissed Kevin off. That pissed him off a_ lot_. He perched on Ben's vine and glared up at the cockpit and Cooper. How dare he use his wife's power against him!

Changing the Taydenite blade and morphing both his hands into climbing hooks instead, Kevin climbed up to the mobile suit's shoulder. He hooked one hand on the cockpit's helmet ornament and shifted this other hand back into a blade. This time a curved one, more like a can-opener rather than a proper knife. He was about to jab this can-opener blade into the seem between cockpit lid and robot shoulder but was stopped when his body suddenly spasmed. Star sapphire energy running over the mobile suit's armor. Frying the vines, freeing it from Ben's hold, and shocking Kevin out of his balance. He fell to the ground. Might have broken his neck if it weren't for Ben's quick thinking and summoned a new patch of vines to cushion his fall.

With a groan Kevin climbed back to his feet.

Ben offered him a hand up, then glared back up at Cooper. "Just a bit of advice: That was totally a dumb idea! If Kevin wanted to, he could have totally absorbed that and then made things unpleasant for _both_ of us!"

"Gr. Shut-up, Tennyson." Kevin groaned. The fall might not have broken his neck, but it was still not a very fun landing. (Plus, he was getting old, though Kevin would never admit that.)

"Let him." Cooper might have shrugged, but it was in the cockpit and the motion did not translate into the mobile suit he was wearing. "What do I care if Kevin 11,000 steals a bit of power? I'm the one who's got the original source. So long as I have Gwen, I have all the energy I could ever need!"

As if to prove this point, Cooper flipped a switch in the cockpit and drew just a bit more manna from her.

Gwen screamed. More patches of skin flaked and crumbled revealing the Anodite housed within her body.

"Stop it!" Kevin shouted -almost pleaded. "Gwen doesn't have infinite energy!"

And as everyone in their group knew, if you drained a creature of its energy -drained it completely- it would die. If Cooper kept drawing power from Gwen he would kill her! Didn't he realize that? Didn't he care? Kevin thought Cooper had always been in love with Gwen. Wouldn't he want to make sure she stayed alive? Or was this going to be one of those 'if I can't have her no one else will!' sort of things?

One thing was sure, their main focus shouldn't be taking down the mobile suit. Their main focus had to be getting Gwen out and away.

Ben's idea to immobilize the robot while he climbed up and cut Gwen out was good. It was what they needed to do. But there was no way Kevin could break through a manna shield unless he wanted to pound on it for a while. By the end, he might be too tired to maintain his armor and cut her free. Or she might have faded to far, been to far gone, to late to save.

"Tennyson, you got an Anodite somewhere in your 10,000 aliens?" Kevin asked.

"No." Ben shook his head. "Why?"

"We need someone who can use manna to get to Gwen."

…

The unfamiliar weight of a chain around his neck woke Devlin. He ran a hand over the heavy iron, following it with his fingers from shoulder to chest where his hand settled over the padlock that hung like a pendant. He had hoped it was all a dream. That Cooper hadn't betrayed them, that Mom wasn't kidnapped, Kenny wasn't splintched, and that Uncle Ben hadn't let out Kevin Levin -his father.

But as soon as he woke up and felt the chain around his neck, the chain that held the padlock infused with his mother's manna, Devlin knew it was real. What other reason would he have to wear a manna-charged pendent.

That mean that Mom still needed to be rescued.

How long had he been asleep?

Devlin rolled out of bed.

It was quiet.

Why was it so quiet?

With Kevin out and free, shouldn't it be louder? Even if he wasn't interested in fighting Uncle Ben, Devlin should at least hear the sounds of an extra person moving around. Maybe fixing something to eat in the kitchen. Or tumbling around in the gym. Maybe just sitting in the living room watching the holovid screen -getting up to date on current events.

But when Devlin stepped barefoot out of his room he found, no only no Kevin, but also no Uncle Ben either. They weren't anywhere on the residential floor.

But Kenny was.

His bedroom door wide open. Sitting on his bed playing a video game with the sound turned down.

Devlin entered without asking and sat on the bed next to his cousin.

"Awake, I see." Kenny didn't look at Devlin when he sat down. Just commented on the fact that he was up and looked marginally refreshed.

"Where is everyone?" Asked Devlin.

Here Kenny saved his game and turned off the system. That wasn't a good sign. It took something incredible to get Kenny to turn off his games. "Cooper called back. He's ready to meet. Dad and Kevin already left."

Devlin was on his feet again without even being aware that he moved. "Do you know where they went? Why didn't anyone wake me? We have to go. We have to help them! I'm not leaving my mom's fate in the hands of Kevin 11,000!"

He didn't wait to hear what Kenny had to say in response to that. It was probably some protest or another. Devlin dashed back to him room. His Plumber's uniform was ruined and that gave Devlin a moment's pause. He wouldn't get very far without some version of armor to protect him. Unless he spent the whole fight in his monster form -which he _would_ do if he had to.

Alright.

In that case, all he needed was pants that wouldn't burst at the seems when he did transform. Devlin fished through his draws before pulling out the pants that went with his dogi. They weren't exactly the cleanest thing in the world, still being full of sweat from his last sparring session. But they were functional and exactly what He needed. Devlin was just tying his belt when Kenny walked in, wearing his own Plumber's uniform.

"You should stay here." Devlin told him. "You're still recovering from being splintched."

"Like hell am I gonna let you go alone!" Kenny snapped. He would protect Devlin. "But… how are we gonna find them? They didn't tell me where they were going."

"I can find them." Devlin nodded, sounding so sure.

He brushed past Kenny and out the room. Crossing the hall to his mother's room. Devlin began looking in cabinets and opening draws, sifting through her closet and pull back books to peen at the shelf behind.

"What are you looking for?" Kenny asked.

"This." Out from under Gwen's pillow, Devlin pulled an old Plumber's badge.

"Your mom's Plumber's badge?"

"Kevin's old Plumber's badge." Devlin corrected. "Mom had her own badge on her at Cooper's. He deactivated it when your dad called him like a dufus. This one's old, but its tracking function should still work. I can use it to home in on your dad's Omnitrix."

It sounded like a good plan. "Why does she keep it in her bed?"

"I don't know." Devlin admitted. And, quite frankly, he didn't want to know. He imagined it probably had something to do with the badge being infused with Kevin's manna or something like that. If the manna was strong enough she could close her eyes and pretend he was there with her. "But that's not important. Right now we need to get going."

He sprinted from Gwen's room, making a B-line for the hanger but skidded to a stop half way there. Turning to double back, and slip inside the magic library. Kenny crept up to peer inside, but no sooner did he have his nose around the corner than Devlin was dashing back out again, a stack of books in his arms. He tipped the stack into the back seat of the car just as Kenny was catching up.

"I still think you should stay. But if you're gonna come, get in or get left behind." Devlin commanded.

So, Kenny wrenched open the passenger side door and slid into the seat.

Devlin took a moment to fix the Plumber's badge to the car's GPS and set it to track Ben's Omnitrix. That done, they shot out from the hanger, faster than Devlin had ever drove with Kenny in the car. In fact, the younger boy was sure that his cousin must have been breaking some speed laws and he hoped that no hover-cops noticed them before they got out of city limits. (Not that they could catch the car, as fast as it was going. But they could still scan the license and send Devlin a ticket over the wave. That would sure make Aunt Gwendolyn real happy.)

"Where are they?" Kenny asked, paying more attention to the hoverlanes around them rather than the holo-map the badge was displaying.

"In the desert outside of town. Somewhere marked 'Los Soledad'. That's ominous." Devlin supplied. He shifted gears and the car shot off even faster.

Kenny was thrown back against his seat and he had to fight the urge to hurl. He wasn't prone to motion sickness, so Kenny blamed it on the fact that he was still recovering from being splintched and pushed it from his mind, focusing his eyes on the horizon to try and settle his stomach. "Ominous how?"

"'Los soledad' is Spanish for 'the lonely'. I don't wanna show up there to only find one of the four of them alive and all alone -especially if its the _wrong_ one."

Kenny was going to ask which one Devlin considered to be the 'wrong one', Cooper or Kevin. But he thought better of it. They were almost there anyway.

…

"Do you know anything bout breaking shield spells?" Ben asked as he, as Big Chill now, swooped down to pull Kevin out of the way of the thermal blast canon as it strafed the ground they had just been standing on.

"Why would I know anything about breaking shield spells?" He growled back.

If he wasn't busy flying, Ben might have shrugged. "You lived with Gwen for a long time before Devlin, I thought you might have learned something. She learned how to fix a tail light."

If they weren't in the middle of a fight, not only for Gwen's life, but at the moment their own as well, Kevin might have commented that changing a tail light was a basic skill that any car owner should have and the fact that Ben thought it was something special was just plain disappointing. But they had neither the time nor the patience to banter like that right now. So, instead Kevin growled, "Just drop me off on his head or shoulder."

Maybe, since he couldn't get to Gwen directly, he could pry open the armor and cut whatever cables, wires, or other relays Cooper had that channeled her manna through the mobile suit. Kevin formed his hand back into the curved can-opening style blade and jabbed it into the robotic armor, right where the collarbone would be on a regular human. It was just a little above where Gwen was hanging, right between the neck and the shoulder. If there was an energy relay beneath the armor, that is where it would be.

"You're wasting your time." Cooper sneered.

Once again, Kevin's body was wreathed in star sapphire energy. But this time he was prepared for the shock, hooking one hand in the movie suit's neck joint. His body hung lip for a moment as the charge momentarily robbed him of control over his own body and he was paralyzed. But as soon as it was over, he had control again. Kevin hung limply for a moment or two, breathing heavily. After a moment, he he was sure he was recovered enough to try again, and he pulled himself back up. Reclaiming his balance, he once again began tearing into the armor.

So, Cooper shocked him again.

And again.

And again.

Until Kevin's body finally gave up and he once again fell off.

Ben once again had to catch him. "I don't think your plan is very effective." He said. "And every time he uses Gwen's manna, she gets weaker."

He was right. The more Cooper used Gwen's manna to attack them, or defend against them, more and more patches of skin fell off her body, revealing the Anotide inside. But while her normal Anodite form tended to glow with an intense internal light, she now looked dim, subdued, almost hollow. Her indigo skin was a little darker than Kevin was used to seeing. Her sapphire hair, which was usually immune to the pull of gravity, hung limply around her face, less bright than usual.

"Cooper, you're killing her!" Kevin shouted. "Whatever grievances you have against me, lets settle it like men. Please, just let Gwen go!"

"Come here and let me kill you, then." Cooper snarled.

It went against every instinct of self-service and self-preservation Kevin had. But he looked at Gwen and realized she just did not have the time for him and Ben to find another way. So, with a forlorn sigh of reluctant resignation, Kevin muttered, "Tennyson, put me down in front of him."

"What?" Ben asked, there was a shudder in Big Chill's flight that told Kevin, Ben knew exactly what he was planning.

"Gwen can't afford to wait on us dicking around!" Kevin snarled. Ideally, it would be fantastic if Ben could come up with a spontaneous and heroic plan to save both of them so that he didn't have just give himself up, that would be great. But Kevin knew Ben and he knew the limits of his wits and intelligence. Gwen was really the brains of their trio. Maybe after Gwen was free, she could come up with something to save him -that was what they did, save each other, all the time. But for the moment, it was just a sacrifice. Maybe it would be better this way. Devlin certainly wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

Reluctantly, Ben set him down in front of the mobile suit and changed back to human form.

"Alright, Cooper! Here I am. Now, how're you gonna kill me?"

In answer to this question, a sphere of star sapphire light formed around Kevin, lifting him up off the ground. A bubble shield? What was he gonna do, slowly shrink the bubble around him and crush him to death? That was a bit knarly, actually. But after a few moments of nothing happening, Kevin decided that maybe that wasn't it. Did Cooper even know what he was doing? Or was he getting cold feet about killing him? Had Cooper ever even killed anyone before?

"Well?" Kevin asked. "I'm waiting."

And then he started to feel it. It took a bit because the bubble of manna encased his whole body. But after a few moments Kevin started to feel just a bit warmer than he should have out here in the cool and open night air. His breathing became just noticeably harder as each breath he took seemed unsatisfying, like he just wasn't taking in as much oxygen as he should have. That was when he realized.

The manna bubble he was trapped inside was air-tight!

As soon as he used up the small bit of air he had, Kevin would suffocate to death. Killed by carbondyoxide poisoning. A slow, painful death.

And Cooper would just watch.

Using Kevin's own wife's power to kill him. Who would have thought that quiet, polite, meek little Cooper had such a cleverly sadistic streak in him?

Kevin gasped.

His head hurt.

There was a pressure behind his eyes and he was sure they must look bloodshot now as his capillaries swelled and burst.

His vision swam.

Vaguely, Kevin was aware of the Taydenite armor fading from his body. He was to weak to maintain it.

Without realizing it, he somehow ended up curled on the bottom of the bubble, clawing at his throat. As if opening up a hole in his esophagus could let in any life-giving air.

His already blurred vision began to darken at the edges.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Ben was shouting. Sounding far away and indistinct. "You're killing him!"

"That's the idea." Cooper's voice was just as distant.

And just as Kevin was about to slip into unconsciousness, a third voice penetrated the haze. Sounding just as far away as everyone else, as if traveling over a long distance, or shouting over the wind. Younger than Ben or Cooper, and male. The next thing Kevin was aware of, he hit the solid ground. A rush of cold air filling his starved lungs.

He gasped for breath. Pushing himself up onto his hands and knees, Kevin looked around to see what divine intervention had saved him.

At first he didn't understand what he was seeing. A monster. A monster with four mismatched arms. One looking like it had come from Heatblast, another from Diamond Head, the other two from Wildmutt. A book held in one of them, another outstretched, glowing with sapphire energy -Anodite energy. His vision cleared some more and Kevin finally understood what it was he was seeing. Devlin. Devlin stood in front of his car, having just arrived on the scene to save the day and break the shield bubble he was trapped in!

But… Ben said Devlin wasn't an Anodite. So, how was he wielding manna?

Devlin snapped the book shut and tossed it into an open window in the back seat before spreading his wings and taking to the air. He sailed over Kevin's head at the mobile suit and that was when he noticed the chain around the boy's neck. A large heavy iron chain that could not have been comfortable. But hanging on the chain like a pendant was a padlock that glowed faintly with star sapphire power. Devlin wasn't an Anodite, but he was using the manna from a charm or talisman of some sort. (Though, Kevin had never really seen a charm or talisman that looked like a rusty old lock. Usually they were shiny bits of jewelry, or impractically decretive knives, or masks, or tablets etc.)

"Give my mom back to me!" The kid shouted.

"So, the bastard spawn finally shows up to save its father." Cooper sneered.

Kevin forced himself to climb to his feet, still breathing hard. His legs felt like rickety stilts under him. "My son…" he groaned, "… is not a bastard!"

He was about to fall over, except a pair of hands caught him. At first, Kevin thought it was Ben. But the Omnitrix was wrong.

"Easy there." Said an adolescent voice and Kevin turned to focus his eyes enough to see Ben's son Ken holding him up. "Take it from me, you wanna rest for a couple of minutes after almost getting killed by magic. Oh. I'm Kenny, by the way. We were never formally introduced."

Was this kid serious? In the middle of a freaking fight and exchanging pleasantries like acquaintances passing time at a bus stop. Yup. The brat was definitely Ben's son alright. No doubt about that. Kevin pushed him away and staggered closer to Devlin. "He's got Gwen's restraints manna shielded. Can you break the barriers?"

Ben came running up to them. He had some choice words to say to Kenny about showing up to the fight when he was still recovering from being splintched, but he would save them for after this was over. Right now they had a slightly higher priority. "We can't free Gwen if we can't cut her loose and so long as she's on that thing Cooper will just keep draining her energy until there's nothing left."

Devlin nodded soberly. "I need to get a different book from my ride."

"Which one?" Kenny was closer to the car than any of them. He dashed over and pulled open the back seat. A cascade of different magic tomes came tumbling out to pile themselves on the ground at his feet.

"The Grimoire." Devlin called after him.

Kenny looked helpless for a moment. He examined the covers. Red with Icelandic runes. Blue with Hebrew characters. Purple with gold sigles. He had no idea what any of them were and was completely out of his depth. "What's it look like?"

"It was Gwen's first book!" Ben supplied as if Kenny would have any idea what Aunt Gwendolyn's first spell book would have looked like.

"Purple!" Kevin shouted. "Its got a diamond with a circle inside it drawn on the cover in gold!" He looked back to find Ben and Devlin staring at him. "What? Gwen and I _did_ live together."

Kenny sprinted back to the group, pressing the book into Devlin's mismatched hands.

"Can you guys give me some cover while I find the spell?" He asked. "I've never exactly done this before."

Kenny was already toggling through the aliens in his Omnitrix, looking for one that would work for the situation. The mobile suit was pretty tall, so he wanted a flyer -like Stinkfly, assuming the watch actually gave him what he wanted for once.

Kevin hooked a finger under the heavy iron chain of the padlock neckless, and as he absorbed the iron into new armor he finally recognized the chain as his own. From back when he was a kid and used to wear a different padlock around his neck as a necklace. He didn't comment. But it was nice to see that, to spite how much Devlin claimed to hate him, the boy was more like him than he chose to admit.

"Tennyson, if you've still got Lodestar, use that one now." He commanded.

"Jeez, so bossy." Ben toggled through his own Omnitrix. It took a bit longer since he had far more aliens to choose from than Kenny did.

Cooper, tired of being ignored, interrupted their strategy meeting with a blast from his thermal canon. Charing the ground where they stood.

Kenny and Devlin look to the air. The latter of which was busy flipping through the pages of the Grimoire, while the former scooped up his father who was still flipping through the Omnitrix. Ten-thousand was a lot of aliens to sift through. The Omnitrix really needed a better search function. Toggling just wasn't practical once you got up to a hundred or more. Kevin, meanwhile, was left to dodge on his own. Leaping forward and using the momentum to roll between the mobile suit's legs.

He slashed at the machine's ankles, but the iron of his current armor wasn't as strong as his Taydenite had been and the iron blades had little effect except to scratch the otherwise pristine white and blue paint.

Ben finally found the alien he was looking for and slammed his hand down on the Omnitrix. Kenny set Lodestar down not far from Kevin, just out of the immediate way of getting stepped on by the mobile suit. Ben's first action as Lodestar was to use his magnetism to pulled Kevin out from under the robot before one of its oversized feet could come down on his head. That would have made for an unpleasant evening.

"About time, Tennyson!" Kevin snapped.

"Your welcome!" Ben responded.

Meanwhile, Devlin found the spell he was looking for. "Someone be ready!" He shouted down to them. "I don't know how long this counter spell is actually good for!"

Devlin began chanting.

"Tennyson, throw me up there!" Kevin shouted.

Ben didn't appreciate being ordered around by Kevin, but he did still have to admit that while he was an upitty bastard, Kevin was smart. The iron of his new armor was the perfect counterpart to Lodestar's magnetic powers and made it easy for him to propel Kevin up to the mobile suit's chest plate and Gwen.

The timing was perfect.

Kevin landed just as Devlin's spell broke the manna shield protecting Gwen's restraints. He used one of the shackles as a hand hold to keep himself from falling back down as he dropped the iron armor and absorbed the same material as the robot's casing instead. Armed with a stronger metal now, Kevin cut the first of Gwen's restraints, then the one he was holding. It wasn't until he sliced through the band around her chest and her limp body leaned forward onto him that Kevin saw the thing on her back.

A cable going from her to the mobile suit. It was fixed to her by some sort of disc with barbs pressed into her skin. On her back and a little to the left. It would have been right over where her heart was. An energy absorber and relay. So that was how Cooper was absorbing her manna. He was going to kill Cooper when this was over!

Kevin cut the cable with his bladed hand and Gwen sighed into his chest. Her hot breath a comfort and a relief. She was still alive. She wasn't too far gone. Kevin finished cutting her free. He gathered her in his arms and jumped back down. Landing painfully on his feet. If it weren't for the armor he wore, Kevin was sure he might have shattered his knees absorbing the impact. Not that he wanted to admit it, but he was getting to old for this. Alien battles were a young man's game.

Devlin landed next to him, tucking the Grimoire under one arm. "How is she?"

Kevin laid her down, carefully prying the energy absorber off before he set her on her back. "I don't know." He admitted. "She's alive, but… her manna's really low…"

"I got that covered." Devlin said.

He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, placing one hand on his mother's forehead, the other over her heart. He delved within himself, gathering up all the Anodite energy he still had pumping through him. Every last drop that hadn't already been used up to free Kevin or break the barrier around Mom. He collected it all in his chest and forced the energy to flow outward, down his arms and out through his hands into his mother.

Forcing energy out of yourself was always more difficult than absorbing it into yourself. The first time Devlin did it -on his eleventh birthday- he blew up a bathroom. It was a good thing that he had all but mastered the technique since then. The last thing anyone wanted was for Devlin to accidentally blow up his mom. He needed to ease it into her. He couldn't just throw it all in at once and bombard her body with a rush of new manna.

After a few moments, the glow came back to her indigo skin. Her luminescent hair brightened and began to flicker and flow like a candle flame, just as it should. Her breathing evened out and became normal. She was still unconscious, but just by looking at her, it was obvious that she was out of danger. She would recover.

Devlin leaned back on the heels of his hands -human again. He groaned with relief.

Kevin gathered Gwen up into his arms, holding her to his chest. It had been so long since he'd held his wife! He bent down and kissed her lips. She still tasted the same -like stars and spice. "You're good, Babe." He whispered into her lips. "You're gonna be okay."

"She's alright?" Ben came up to them, still as Lodestar. He sighed. "Thank goodness."

"Uh, guys…" Kenny wasn't far behind his father. Except that his Omnitrix had timed out and he was human again. "I hate to interrupt, but Cooper's weapon is still over there."

It was true that they had taken away the mobile suit's battery -Gwen- but it still held all the power Cooper had absorbed form her before Kevin cut her free. That meant that, until that energy ran out, Cooper was still a threat. And Kevin wasn't about to let him hurt his family a second time!

He cast his eyes around them, taking stock of their situation. He wanted to send Gwen away where she'd be safe and far from the battle, but he needed Ben as back-up and Devlin was pretty useful in a fight too -if his earlier scuffle with the boy was any indicator. But Ben's brat -Ken- wasn't quite as useful. His Omnitrix didn't hold as many aliens and it timed out to quickly. He didn't wanna let Gwen out of his site -or out of his arms for that matter- but he also knew she couldn't stay here.

So, it was with extreme reluctance that he passed her to Kenny. "Take her. Strap her safely in the back seat of the car, and get out of here."

"How're you guys gonna get home?" The boy asked. He did not bother to mention that he did not have a drivers license yet, only a learners' permit. But neither Ben not Devlin mentioned it either.

"We'll call on the car phone when we're done." Ben assured his son. He flashed Kevin a grateful look. Kenny was still recovering from his splintching and getting away from the battle was the best thing for him too -in Ben's opinion.

Kevin stopped paying attention to Ben and his brat. He knew the kid would do what he was told because, as much as he was like Ben, he would recognize the difference between what he wanted to do and what needed to be done. It took him a while, but Ben always recognized the difference and made the right decision, so Kevin was sure Kenny would too. And sure enough, as soon as Kevin turned his back to them to scoop up his discarded Taydenite fragment, the boy was already sprinting. Half-way to the car.

With a casual toss, Kevin passed the Taydenite crystal to Devlin. "Here. Armor up."

Devlin caught the fragment and stared at it for a moment, as if in confusion. "The heck am I supposed to do with this?"

"Absorb it." Kevin said as if this should have been obvious. The kid wasn't in his monstrous form anymore and he wasn't wearing any other kind of protective clothing. In fact, he was barely wearing clothing at all. Just a pair of karate pants. Not even shoes or a shirt. The kid needed armor.

"I can't." Devlin informed him, a little resentfully. "I don't know how."

Kevin just stared at him for a moment. He didn't know how to absorb matter. His son didn't know how to absorb matter. But that was such a basic skill. He had figured it out when he was twelve. While he was in Incarceration in the Null Void. One of the first times he'd ever been confined there. Admittedly, he did have Kwarrel to help him, and Devlin had no one. But Kwarrel wasn't even Osmosian and didn't know the first thing about Osmosians. Gwen and Ben on the other hand, while they weren't Osmosian either, had worked side by side with him for years and knew the ins and outs of his powers almost as well as he did. Why didn't they help Devlin explore his abilities?

He didn't have time to worry about that now. Kevin took the Taydenite back from Devlin, absorbing it himself instead. Then he grabbed his son's hand. Forcing the Taydenite down the bridge of their joined hands -just like he did with Gwen that time they fought Diagon. He didn't stop until Devlin's entire body was covered in the blue-green crystal armor.

"There." Kevin said, withdrawing his hand. "And when we get home I can teach you to do it yourself."

Devlin looked at his Taydenite armored body, flexing his fingers as if he'd never seen his own hands before. And perhaps he hadn't -not covered in absorbed matter anyway. It was an entirely new experience for him -and he liked it. He looked up at his father, the words 'thank you' almost on the edge of his lips. But Kevin was already charging Cooper's mobile suit, rearmored in his own helping of absorbed Taydenite. One hand morphing into a mace, the other into a blade. Devlin sighed. Neither of them were men of many words. That was something he was willing to admit he and his father had in common.

And like Kevin said, he would teach Devlin how to do it himself once this was over.

Except… how did Kevin plan to teach him if he was stuck back in the Null Void?

"Gwen's out of the way!" Kevin shouted to Ben as he slashed at the robot's ankles. "If you're still in the mood for a frontal assault -bombs away, Tennyson!"

Devlin watched them for a few moments. His father hacking at the armor of the feet, his uncle bombarding its chest with Humongasor's fists. They were trying to subdue it still, but that wasn't what they needed to do. They needed to bring it down. Cooper was in the cockpit at the top. That was what they needed to get to. They had to bring it down.

Taking a moment to do a couple of stretched -the Taydenite armor did limit his mobility slightly, but only slightly- Devlin broke unto a run to work up some momentum before launching into a high-jump. Both legs lancing out in a two-foot kick. The mobile suit staggered backwards a bit -unbalanced- but didn't fall. The moment he landed, Devlin's feet had barely touched the ground before he took advantage of the stagger to try and kick its weaker leg out from under it.

The second kick impacted a spot that had been previously weakened by one of Kevin's earlier strikes and the ankle burst under the force of his Taydenite foot colliding with it.

The mobile suit went down.

Both Ben and Kevin looked impressed.

Humongasor put one heavy foot on its chest to hold the mobile suit down, while Kevin climbed up to the head and finally succeeded in prying open the cockpit. He dragged Cooper out by a fist full of thick blond hair. There was a cut on his forehead where he had probably creaked his head when he fell and blood was trickling down his face, into his eyes.

Kevin threw Cooper on the ground in from of him. The other man tried to scurry away. Crawling in the dirt, to desperate to take the time to actually climb to his feet. But Kevin made him freeze in his tracks, picking up a piece of shrapnel from the robot and throwing it in the man's path. It just barely missed Cooper's golden head, blocking his escape. He flipped over on his back, staring wide-eyed at Kevin.

"I warned you." Kevin growled, low and deep in his throat. A primal, feral sound that was more reminiscent of a beast than a man. "You should have taken my deal…"

Staring at Kevin advancing on him, one arm a blade, the other a spiked mace, murderous intent plastered all over his face… Kevin was terrifying. And Cooper had never really been the confrontational sort. Not really. He was more of a support member on any team he'd ever been on. This was his first -and very likely his last- time ever being a real antagonist. He was not equipped to handle the murderous intent aspect of the job. It terrified him. Down to his very core. Kevin was scary.

Cooper wet himself.

Blood dripped into his eyes, coloring Kevin's image red. The dirt caked into mud on his urine soaked pants.

Kevin was right on top of him now.

He raised the mace to bash Cooper's skull in. This was it. He was going to die. Kevin was going to kill him for what he did to Gwen.

Cooper passed out from fear.

He laid at Kevin's feet, bleeding, unconscious, covered in his own piss and tears. -Just as Kevin promised he would.

The mace was lowered without a single blow being struck.

Ben tuned back to human form. "Someone call Kenny. Let's go home."

...


	11. Epilogue: Whole Again

Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or its sequels, spin-off and related characters. All is the property of Man of Action and Cartoon Network. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

Thorns

Epilogue: Whole Again

Gwen was fine, she just needed rest.

Kevin laid her down on her bed and tucked her in with care.

All they need to do now was wait.

The four men stood around in her room.

"So…" Ben began, after a prolonged pause that might have been more awkward than the four of them wanted to admit. "I think its Tuesday by now. You kids wanna get ready for school?"

The boys shot Ben identical glares before exchanging a look of agreement between themselves. Then, in unison choired, "No."

"Let them stay home, Tennyson." Kevin assumed that taking the kids' side would endear himself to Devlin a bit and help improve the boy's opinion of him. That, and he never really understood the emphasis people put on school anyway. He never went. "They worked just as hard as we did. I think they've earned a day off. Besides, it'll give Devlin and I some time to work on matter absorption."

"Ya know, on second though," Devlin began, "school is important. We really shouldn't miss it."

Kenny glared at his cousin. "Who are you? What did you do with Dev?"

Kevin was disappointed. He knew Devlin hated him, but he would have thought that the boy might put that loathing aside, at least long enough to learn matter absorption from him. Ya know, before the kid sent him back to the Null Void. Something which Kevin was actually hoping wouldn't happen. Now that he was out again he didn't want to go back. In fact, if it were Ben promising to send him back, Kevin would already be fighting tooth and nail to escape and retain his freedom. But Devlin was another story. Devlin he didn't want to fight.

Ben probably picked up on this. Because he clapped his hands for quiet, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I changed my mind. We're all pretty psyched-up from the fight and could use a cool down. Why don't we take some time to relax. Then we'll revisit the school debate once everyone is in a better state of mind."

…

With no imminent threat to respond to anymore, no one really knew what to do with themselves. Kenny tried to get Devlin to read to him again, but Devlin was suddenly very annoyed with Wormtail's betrayal of his friends and uncommonly upset about Sirius' wrongful imprisonment and so quit the book around the time Snape lead them out of the tree. He replaced the book on the shelf and went and hid under his car.

That was how Kevin found him, not even an hour later when he had worked up the courage to try talking to his son again.

"I'm curios, why'd you reupholster the backseat but not the front?" He asked, hoping the car would be a safe enough topic to ease his way into a conversation with the kid.

"Oh, that's my fault!" Kenny looked up from his hand-held game console. He was sitting on the ground next to Devlin's open toolbox. "Ya see, I spilled my biology homework in the backseat one day and since algae glows under a black light when you add Luminal to it, Devlin thought it would be a good idea to do that while cleaning. Ya know, to make sure he got it all out."

Oh, gosh! Devlin took a backlight to the backseat? Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no, no! Kevin swallowed, knowing what was about to come next in this story even before Kenny said it.

"And, ohmygawd! It looked like the Fourth of July back there!" The boy waved his arms to illustrate. "I mean, like, it was _everywhere!_ Devlin freaked out and ripped everything out. Now, my personal theory, whoever owned this car before him pulled a Pulp Fiction. Ya know that scene where they're driving in the car and Travolta accidentally shoots the guy in the head and it just explodes all over the car? I think that's what happened."

Oh, good. If these kids were naive enough to believe that, sure. He'd go with that. No one ever need know that when Devlin took a blacklight to the car, that he was actually looking at the aftermath of his own conception -and several other rendezvous before and after. Everyone knew their parents had to have sex at some point to make them, but no child should be confronted with that fact in so graphic a context. And then something else Kenny said caught up with Kevin.

"Wait, a minute. No one ever told you who's car this was?"

"Its my car." Devlin growled from the undercarriage. "I pulled her from the back of the hanger, dusted her off and breathed new life into her. She's mine. Kenny, can you hand me the hydrospanner?"

Devlin held a hand out, waiting for the tool, while the other boy looked in the toolbox, examining the alien instruments mixed in with the mundane terrestrial ones. Trying to figure out which one Devlin was asking for. Sighing at just how similar the two boys really were to their fathers, Kevin picked up the correct tool and placed it in his son's waiting hand.

"What are you using the hydropanner for?" He asked, genuinely curious. "The car's a bit small to be installing an airlock."

"None of your business!" Devlin snapped.

While at the exact same time, Kenny supplied, "He wants to take the car into space."

"Shut-up, Ken! He doesn't need to know that!"

Kevin could only smile. His smile broke into a low chuckle of amusement. "Oh, boyo, I cannot even tell you the amount of time I spent under this car trying to make it submersible. And you wanna take it into space! Now _that_ is something I would love to see!"

That got Devlin to actually slide out from under the car and actually look at him. The first eye contact they made since returning with Gwen. "What do you mean _you_ made it submersible?"

"Of course I did." Kevin grinned. "You think I'd let anyone else work on my car?"

"_Your car!_" If Devlin weren't already laying down, he would have fallen down. The car he spent the past year restoring… the car he drove to and from school every day… the car who's craftsmanship he was so impressed with… the car he loved more than any hypothetical woman… was _Kevin's_! Devlin dropped the tool in his hand, completely forgetting the task he was just working on. He stood up in a slight daze. "I can't deal with this right now."

He left the hangar.

There was a beat of silence in which Kenny and Kevin just watched him leave.

"Well, I think that went well." Kenny attempted, sounding far perkier than any person had the right to be (in Kevin's opinion).

Kevin ignored him. Picking up the abandoned hydrospanner and slid under the car to examine Devlin's work.

…

Ben was making a smoothie when Devlin stormed into the kitchen. Wearing his perpetually dirty mechanic's jumpsuit and spattered with oil and other engine fluids.

"Want one?" He offered, tossing two banana's in with the milk and ice cream.

Devlin looked at what else was laid out on the counter next to the blender. Strawberries, kale, soy powder, pineapple, mango, and baked chicken. The boy tried not to wrinkle his nose as he said, "No thanks." Then, "Why didn't you tell me my car was Kevin's?"

"Does it matter? That the car was Kevin's, I mean."

The question made Devlin pause for a moment as he thought about his answer. He leaned against the kitchen counter and asked, "He's a lot like me, isn't he?"

"Actually, you're a lot like him." Ben corrected. He threw the strawberries and the kale into the blender next. "And there's a lot you can learn from him, too."

And that was something that was bothering Devlin. Had been bothering him, in fact, since the fight with Cooper. When Kevin covered him with his own absorbed Taydenite armor and promised to teach Devlin how to absorb matter for himself. "Yeah, but… We have to send him back. I can't take lessons from him if he's in the Null Void…"

"Mm. Still instant on sending him back, I see." Ben threw the chicken into the blander, secured the lid over it and hit puree. Neither of them tried to talk over the loud roaring of the blender. When it was done Ben popped the lid and pored the foul smelling concoction into a glass.

"We have to send him back." Devlin insisted, sounding far less sure than he had before. "Its our responsibility as Plumbers. He's a criminal."

Ben was fishing around in the kitchen drawers for a straw. When he found one, he sipped his disgusting smoothy slowly, savoring the sweet yet salty flavor of the meat and fruit blended with idea cream. "Ah, yes. A criminal who's crime was trying to help his son."

He stared pointedly at Devlin.

"I didn't need his help."

"He didn't know that." Ben shrugged. "Something I've learned over my years as Hero of the Universe, Devlin, is that -some times- people's motives are more important than their actions. Now that Kevin knows you'll be just fine, I can guarantee you, he'll never try and absorb a Celestialsapien again. And isn't that why we send criminals to the Null Void in the first place? So that they don't try and commit the same crimes again after they've been stopped the first time."

…

When Gwen awoke, she founder herself in her own bed, in her own room, in her own home at Plumber's Headquarters.

Her first thought was that everything had been one long and horrible dream. Something brought on by the stress of Cooper's proposal and her indecision about it. After all, Cooper was a good man, there was no way in heck he would kidnap her son, steal her manna, and try and kill Kevin. Now that she was awake, she laughed at the sheer absurdity of the idea!

That was when she felt the pain in her back. The shaking of her laugher irritating the wound left my his energy absorption relay. She reached a hand behind her to feel a gauze bandage secured with medical tape. Her wrists were also scrapped where her hands had been shackled. So, it had been real.

But what happened?

The last thing Gwen remembered was being strapped to the chest of a giant robot, put out on display and seeing Ben with _Kevin_ ready for a fight. But that couldn't be right. Kevin was in the Null Void.

Knowing she wouldn't get her answers laying here in bed, Gwen sat up, slipped her feet into some house slippers and put on a robe. She went to the hanger. If Devlin was home that's where he would be, and sure enough, there was a pair of legs clad in black cargo pants sticking out from under the car. So much like his father… Maybe that was it. It wasn't Kevin that Gwen saw at Ben's side during her rescue. It was Devlin. He did look so much like his father, and in her weakened and delirious state it was easy for her mind to mistake one for the other.

"Looks like you're a bit of a hero." She commented, placing her hands on her hips.

"A hero?" That wasn't Devlin's voice. "No one's called me a 'hero' in a very, very long time."

Gwen was struck speechless when she saw who it was that slid out from under the car. Wearing cloths that looked like they used to be Ben's. Shirt strained with engine fluids, the sleeves ripped off. Dark hair a bit longer than the last time she saw him. Square jaw, high cheekbones, a straight nose and dark-dark eyes. Eyes a brown so dark they might as well have been black. Kevin. Her Kevin. It really was him!

"Hey, Babe. Does the hero get the girl in this story?" He asked, grinning suggestively.

She half-jumped half-fell onto him. Her lips colliding with his in a sloppy but passionate and earnest kiss. Her hands tangled in his long hair, her knees scraping on the hanger floor, their bodies pressed together, getting oil and grease and who knew what else all over her nightgown and robe. The kiss lasted sixteen years, but it was over in a matter of seconds. Gwen was the first to pull away.

"It really _is_ you!" She gasped, disbelieving. "But, how?"

"Tennyson let me out."

"Ben did? But why?"

"Obviously he's such a pathetic loser that he couldn't save you on his own. As if Cooper is some great big bad boss. T'ch." And then he changed focus. "How are you feeling? You lost a lot of manna. If Devlin hadn't given you his manna, I don't know what might have happened to you."

Gwen blinked in confusion. "Devlin doesn't have manna. He expelled it all when he was eleven. That's why he's got a human shape now."

"I don't know. The kid didn't really explain." Kevin could only shrug. Then his demeanor turned sober. "Actually, Devlin doesn't really wanna talk to me at all. He, uh, he doesn't like me. Not that I blame him, or anything. Really. He has every right too. I haven't exactly been around and… and, well…" A deep breath. "Gwen, do you feel like I abandoned you? I didn't think I was at the time. But then I just never came home, so…"

She silenced him with another kiss. "It sounds like Devlin _has_ been talking to you after all."

"That doesn't answer my question."

She put a finger to his lips. "Lets not talk about that. You're here right now, and I do not want to waste the opportunity."

"Opportunity?" He blinked.

Gwen flashed him a coy smile. Reaching over Kevin, she opened the door to the back seat. "Opportunity."

"Oh! _That_ opportunity!"

…

It took Ben a couple of minutes to realize what it was exactly that was making Devlin's car rock when he entered the hanger. Devlin was in his room, cogitating on his own internal debate over his father, so he couldn't be making it shake. Kenny was in his room playing video games, so he wasn't playing in the car. Maybe Kevin, except Ben expected to find Kevin under the car, not- Oh. Then he realized what it was exactly that he was seeing.

"_Jezus-Kriffiing-Christ_!" He exclaimed, picking Gwen's discarded robe up off the hanger floor and throwing it in throughout the open backseat window. "You two! I mean, really! Come on! Gawd! You're like rabbits! _Rabbits_!"

"B-Ben!" Gwen exclaimed, clawing at her robe in an attempt to spread the fabric over herself and reclaim what little of her dignity there was to be claimed in the backseat of a car with an ex-con.

"Go away, Tennyson." Kevin snarled, not in the least bit bashful or ashamed. He reclined in the backseat on full display and not caring. "I haven't seen my wife in sixteen years and Incarceration doesn't allow conjugal visits."

Ben crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to be intimidated by the other man. "Yeah… about that… Considering that _your son_ is still planning on sending you back to the Null Void, maybe having sex in his car isn't the best decision to make right now. Then again, your decision making skills have never been all that great to begin with."

That got Gwen's attention. "Devlin wants to send him back? Why does Devlin want to send him back?"

"He hates me." Kevin sighed, reaching for his pants. The mood was gone.

While at the exact same time Ben said, "He's convinced its what we have to do. Since Kevin's sentence was for life."

"That's absurd!" Gwen snapped. "Kevin's not a bad guy and its not like he's ever gonna try it again. There's no reason for him to be sent back there! Can't we re-negotiate his sentence? House arrest, maybe? Or, better yet, lets get Argit to give him a Presidential Pardon!"

"I'm sorry, what now?" Kevin blinked at them. "Why and how would my buddy_ Argit_ -of all people- be dishing out Presidential Pardons?"

"He's president of Earth." Gwen waved dismissively. "The point is, there's no reason why Kevin has to go back there. Devlin just doesn't know what he's thinking right now. There's to much going on for him to be able to think straight."

"Lets… skip right past the part where you explain how the heck _Argit became president of a planet_. Devlin seemed pretty adamant about it to me." Kevin groaned. "Face it, Gwen, our kid hates me."

"He doesn't hate you." Gwen insisted. A pause. "And I know exactly how to prove it, too!" Wrapping her robe around herself, Gwen climbed over Kevin and back out of the car. "Ben, go get Devlin. Tell him to meet us in the Null Void chamber because its time to say his final good-bye before we send Kevin back to Incarceration."

"What!?" Both men exclaimed. Wasn't she just saying that they didn't have to send him back. What was she playing at.

"Just do it. I need to get dressed. Kevin, put your clothes back on." She left the hanger.

…

Devlin was in the gym.

He didn't feel like reading any more and he couldn't work on his car -Kevin's car. Not after that revelation. So, he pulled out the tumbling mats and decided to work on a few kata sets and maybe some falls. The movement and activity helped him clear his head and sweat out his frustrations and his conflict. Because, Devlin wasn't really sure how he felt anymore.

Kevin wasn't the evil, maniacal, homicidal, maniac Devlin was lead to believe he was. In fact, he was kinda chill. He reminded Devlin a bit of himself. Older, yes. A bit more jaded. But, really, they were a lot alike. In fact, if they had met under different circumstances Devlin imagined he and Kevin being rather good friends.

But none of that changed the fact that they had to send Kevin back.

His sentence was for life and whatever document Uncle Ben had used to get him out must have been forged -faked. That meant that if they didn't send him back, Uncle Ben would get in trouble too. Aiding and abetting. Kevin had to go back.

Besides, what would he even do if he stayed? Return to his position as a Plumber? Ha! That would never happen. Not after what he did. Resume his under-the-table business of selling contraband alien tech? What would even be the point of that? The moment Uncle Ben found out, Kevin would just be sent right back to the Null Void. If he enjoyed working on cars a lot, Devlin supposed he could open up an auto shop. But could he be trusted to work on strangers' cars for them…? Devlin didn't know.

But on the subject of cars… _his car was Kevin's!_ Holy knifing crap!

Why had no one told him this detail?

What did Kevin think of his modifications. The car couldn't hover when he was sent to Incarceration, Devlin added that feature himself. It allowed him to drive in the city's skylanes, which were way faster than the surface streets. But did Kevin like it? Or did he think it was lame and gimmicky? Like something out of a seventies sci-fi cartoon. What about Devlin's plan to make the car space worthy and take it into the outer atmosphere? What did Kevin think of that? Since Kenny thoughtlessly let it slip, Kevin must have an opinion about it. What did he think? Devlin wanted to know.

Before he was sent back to the Null Void, Devlin wanted to know!

Maybe he could convince Uncle Ben to let Kevin stay for just a little while longer. Not very long, just a little while. Like a day. One whole day with no one to rescue and no one to beat up. One uninterrupted day of getting to know his convict father before they sent him back whee he belongs.

They could talk about the car, swap ideas, compare opinions of parts and/or manufacturers… it would be great! And Kevin would teach him how to absorb matter. That Taydenite armor was great. He didn't feel a thing when his blows connected with Cooper's mobile suit. Usually, if he kicked something that well armored with that much force, he would split his skin, or at the very least, get some nasty guises that made walking uncomfortable. But with the Taydenite armor, he felt nothing. Like he was invincible! He wanted to learn to do it for himself. And the only person who could teach him was Kevin.

Uncle Ben would let him stay. Devlin was sure of it.

After all, Uncle Ben didn't believe Kevin would go back to his evil ways now that Devlin was whole, properly formed, and handsome. The perfect son Kevin dreamed of. There was no motive for him to go on another rampage. In this instance, yes, the motive was more important than the actions. Kevin had no motive to be an evil mass-absorbing kriff-head, so he wouldn't be an evil mass-absorbing kriff-head. So long as Devlin was safe, everything else was safe.

Kevin could stay.

Devlin was sure of it.

Kevin would stay.

Those thoughts in mind, Devlin paused in his routine and dabbed at his face with a towel. He would shower and go find Kevin. They would reconcile and then they would get down to those lessons on matter absorption Devlin so desperately needed. Alright. That was the plan.

Devlin draped the towel over his shoulders and was about to exit the gym. Except Uncle Ben was standing in the doorway.

"Oh, re you done? Is my timing perfect for once?" He asked.

"Is Mom awake yet?" Devlin asked. Because, why else would Uncle Ben be looking for him if it wasn't about his mother?

"Actually, yes." Ben nodded, as if this were a secondary thought. So then, he hadn't come here about Gwen? "She's in the Null Void chamber right now -saying her final good-byes to Kevin. I thought you might have something to say to him, too. So I wanted to find you before I sent him back for good."

"So you _are_ sending him back!?" That was not the vibe Devlin got off his Uncle during their conversation in the kitchen.

Uncle Ben remained tactfully silent to that. He opened his mouth as if about to reply. Changed his mind about what he was going to say and closed it again. "We'll be waiting in the Null Void chamber. But, I won't wait forever. Whatever you want to say to your father, this is your only opportunity, Devlin."

He left.

Devlin didn't bother with showers or freshening up. He found himself dashing through the corridors, catching up with Uncle Ben, and passing him by completely on his way to the Null Void chamber.

Kevin was already there. But he wasn't alone. Devlin saw him locked in an embrace with his mother. Gwen had herself pressed up against him. Lips locked with Kevin's.

Devlin wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to react to that. He'd seen his mother kiss men before, but never… quite like that. Like Kevin and their kiss was the only thing in the world. Pressing herself against him like they was trying to fuse their bodies, become one with each other. Truth be told, it made him feel awkward and a little uncomfortable. Like he was intruding on them. Devlin averted his eyes. Perhaps if he had been looking, he might have seen his mother's eyes glance at him before breaking the kiss.

"Its not fair!" She exclaimed, sounding as if the words were just meant for Kevin's ears alone, but making sure Devlin could hear them clearly. "I hate this! Ben can't send you back. _I love you._"

Gwen brushed a strand of long dark hair back behind his ear. Kevin gripped her wrist and began trailing gentle kisses up her arm. "Its not just Tennyson, you know." He muttered. "This is Devlin's decision as well. To put me back with the 'scum of the universe'. He feels its where I belong."

That statement cut Devlin like a knife. It was true, that was how he felt yesterday. But after Kevin helped rescue him mom, shared armor with him, and promised to teach Devlin how to absorb matter for himself, his feelings of the man had changed. Kevin wasn't evil and he didn't deserve to be put back in with the scum of the universe. Devlin cleared his throat conspicuously, drawing their attention to him and interrupting their moment.

Kevin wheeled around as if startled. He met eyes with his son and there was a pregnant pause.

There was a moment of shuffling feet and not knowing what to do with their hands as the two men regarded each other, unspeaking.

Gwen took Kevin's hand, offering comfort or encouragement. "Isn't there something you two would like to say to each other?"

More awkward silence.

"Devlin…" Kevin began, not sure exactly what to say. "I… I'm glad I got to meet you and see what a fine young man you're shaping up to be."

Another pause. Then, a nod. "Thank you. I… I want…" -clearing of the throat- "I want to make sure there are no hard feelings here. Us sending you back. Your release was only tempeeoray, after all, and we can't keep you here. I want to be sure you're not gonna try and resist, or try and escape, or whatever else it is that you do."

Gwen looked so disappointed.

Kevin looked… more so. "I want you to understand something, Devlin." He said. "The_ only_ reason I am going quietly is because_ you_ are the one sending me back."

"I-!?"

"Oh! You wanna do the honors?" Uncle Ben came up behind him. He offered an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Alright then. Come over here to the control panel."

"Wait, what?" Devlin froze, mid-step. "You want me to do it?"

They were gonna make him do it? They were gonna make him be the one to send Kevin 11,000 back into the Null Void. That was… that was a bit much. It wasn't like he didn't know how to work the controls. They were pretty straight forward. A ten-year-old could figure out how to do it. It wasn't the actual action of the task that Devlin found daunting. It was the fact that the one he was condemning was his own father.

True, it was the father he'd never known. But if he did this, then, he never would have the chance to get to know him… "Are you sure you want me to do it?"

"You were the one who vowed to _personally_ make sure he ended up where he _belongs_." Ben reminded him.

That was true and it stung to be reminded of words he'd spoken in the heat of anger. Devlin didn't feel that way anymore. Kevin didn't belong with the scum of the universe and Devlin didn't want to be the one to put him back there. But he had given his word. Sworn that he would. What did that make him if he broke his word? What did it make him if he broke his word? Which would make him the lesser of two evils? For neither option make him particularly heroic.

But then again, the men of the Levin family never really were heroes, were they?

No. The men of the Levin family were the sidekicks of heroes. The support. The the structure and foundation that the hero stood on. Climbing up towards the heaven's but always falling just short of glory. Ben was a hero. Kenny would be a hero. But Kevin was not. Devlin would not. Levins did not do heroic things or make heroic decisions.

Levin's made difficult decisions.

And in a glittering moment of horrified clarity, Devlin understood his father better than he ever imagined he could. It must have been a difficult decision for him. A near impossible decision. His newborn son a monster. His wife unable to fix what he perceived to be a problem. His best friend unable or unwilling to help either. No hope of the boy to live any version of a 'normal life'… Unless Kevin did something crazy. Something so completely out there and insane that it just might work. Absorb the power of a Celestialsapien. Absorb the power of a god and fix the child himself.

Trade one child's life for another.

A difficult decision.

Not unlike the decision that Devlin faced now. They were different on a matter of stakes and scale. It was not the fate of the universe or the life of a child at stake here, but just the freedom of one man. The scale was smaller. The stakes were lower. But the decision was just as difficult. Send Kevin back and condemn his father back to his life sentence in Incarceration, and never see him again. Or refuse. Let Kevin be free, learn matter absorption from him, show him the modifications on the car, discuss future projects…

"Something wrong?" Uncle Ben asked when Devlin didn't move. "I know I've never let you kids work the Null Void controls before, but they're really simple. Here. Let me show you."

Uncle Ben put an arm around Devlin and pulled him over to the control panel.

"Oh, Gwen, bring Kevin over." He called over his shoulder. "Its time for him to go."

Devlin was shaking with a reluctance he did not know he possessed. But Uncle Ben seemed not to notice. The older man guided the boy's hands over the control panel.

"First you press this." He was saying. "Then set the coordinates for his destination in the Null Void. In this case, his would be Incarceration. Once that's done, he's ready to go and you just have to press this big red button here." Ben placed Devlin's hand over the button but did not press down. "Whenever you're ready."

Once again, Devlin stood frozen.

He looked at Uncle Ben, who was standing next to him with a patient look. At his mother, who still held Kevin's hand. At Kevin, who looked… who looked like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to kill something or break down and cry.

His father loved him. Unconditionally. Even before he realized who Devlin was, he was his father's main concern. Demanding to see him, to speak with him, to know that he was okay. Remembering him only as the mister he was born as. Kevin loved him. How could Devlin condemn him back to the Null Void?

He couldn't.

Devlin suddenly realized he couldn't.

"I don't want him to go!" And Devlin was horrified when his voice cracked and tears trickled from his eyes. "I want… I want… I want you to teach me to absorb matter! And I wanna show you the modifications I'm making to my car! I want your opinions on my plans for it. I want… I want…"

He couldn't speak anymore, so Devlin just stood there. Sobbing like a child.

Kevin crossed the space between them, wrapping his arms around the boy. This time, Devlin did not push him away. "Shh, shh. It's okay." He soothed. "I'll stay. Tennyson will let me stay. I'll teach you matter absorption and we'll work on your car together."

Over their shudders, Ben and Gwen locked eyes. It was really a clever plan of hers. To prove to both of them that Devlin _not only_ didn't hate his father, but also loved him too. It was a tad manipulative. Yes. But then, that was a skill she'd learned from a con artist she knew very well.

There was still the matter of fixing it legally so that Kevin never had to go back to the Null Void. But Ben and Gwen would handle that. For now, it was enough to let Kevin and Devlin have their moment. For the first time in almost two decades, the Tennyson-Levin family was whole again.

…

END


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